Listen To Your Spark
by Wizard God
Summary: Bayverse: Noah Rogers is a normal girl, until she is kidnapped by a certain cop car and brought back to the Decepticon base where they demand information from her; Information she doesn't have. But when Starscream realises that she is of no use to them, will he be willing to simply let her go? I suck at summaries..:P sorry. Takes place during ROTF
1. Chapter 1

"Hey, Noah?"

A pretty girl with long brown hair and green eyes glanced up from the book she was reading. "Yeah?"

"Can you put the book down and discuss what you're going to wear on Friday?" her friend Alison pleaded, poking Noah's leg.

It was lunch time on an ordinary Wednesday at school, and Noah and Alison were sitting outside by a tree, Noah reading and Alison checking out a couple of boys sitting a short distance away.

Noah sighed and closed her book reluctantly. "I was planning on wearing clothes. What about you?"

Ali scowled and hit her leg. "Don't be cheeky. Seriously. I'm pretty sure Josh is going to be at the party." she said persuasively.

Noah felt her cheeks heat up. She had had a massive crush on Josh Parker since the first grade. Even his name made her blush. "So?" Noah asked, trying to act nonchalant.

"Noah, you can't fool me. You are going to this party!" Ali said firmly, punching the ground for emphasis.

Noah sighed and pushed her long brown hair out of her face. "I really don't want to, Ali."

"Please, No'? Pretty please?" she pulled the puppy dog face.

Noah rolled her eyes. "We'll see." She replied vaguely, reopening her book.

Ali grinned. "That means yes, doesn't it?" she asked. When Noah didn't reply, she laughed delightedly. "Yes! Thank you! So.. When's your dad coming back?"

Noah's fingers tightened on the book reflexively. "I'm not sure." she said quietly. Ali gave her a sympathetic look and patted her knee, but it didn't seem genuine.

Noah's dad was a Commander in the military, and he was currently away on some project. It was all 'classified' and 'top secret', so he wasn't even allowed to tell her if what he was going to be doing was safe. All he told her was that he would be in Diego Garcia, and even then he had told her far more than he was meant to, enough to get him in trouble. He had left on this mission almost three years ago, leaving Noah with her Aunt Amy.

"I'm sorry." Ali said absently, before losing interest and staring at a cute guy who had just walked out of the school building.

Noah just shrugged and played with the ends of her hair, which reached just below her hips. She hadn't cut it since her mom had died seven years ago, when she was ten.

Ali stood up suddenly. "I'm just going to say hi to that guy over there." she said, pointing to the guy she had been staring at.

She walked away before Noah could say anything. Noah just sighed and leaned back against the tree, but didn't take offense. It was just the way Ali was.

Noah stood up and brushed herself off. There was five minutes left of lunch and she wanted to get to class early. She grabbed her bag and slung it across her shoulder, then proceeded to cross the grass and walk back into the school.

She made her way to Science and sat in her usual seat at the back of the class, beside the window.

As she waited for Ali to arrive, she stared out the window. She saw nothing of interest, until a police car drove by. Police cars are normal occurrences, of course, but this car didn't seem to have a driver, yet it was cruising by leisurely.

Noah sat up straighter and leaned towards the window more, trying to get a better look. She knew her eyes were probably just messing up, or that the driver was just leaning back really far in the seat.

"I got his number!" Ali's voice trilled as she leaped into the seat beside her.

Noah jumped and hit her head off the window. "Ow." She winced at the sharp pain in her head.

"Are you okay? Why did you just headbutt the window?"

"I didn't mean to." Noah groaned, holding her hand to her forehead, where she could almost feel the bruise beginning to form. "You scared me."

Ali rolled her eyes. "Sor-ry. What were you staring at?" she inquired, craning her neck to see out the window.

Noah briefly considered telling her, but changed her mind. She would just think she was crazy. "Oh, Uhhh.. Just..- a squirrel." she said lamely.

Ali raised her eyebrows. "A squirrel?"

Noah nodded quickly. Thankfully, at that moment Mr. Groban decided to arrive.

Ali shot her a look that said she wasn't going to drop it, before turning her attention to Mr. Groban as he began the lesson.

Noah felt her attention wander almost the minute he began talking, and found herself staring out the window again.

The cop car was still there, only it was parked across the street. Noah stared at it curiously. There was something strange about it, yet it seemed visibly normal. The usual 'Police' insignia was painted on the side, the sirens on top and the black and white paint job all made the car look like a run of the mill cop car. Except for the fact that it had been driving on its own.

She wondered vaguely if anyone else had noticed it. Noah scrutinised the car for the rest of the lesson, hoping to see a policeman get into it and drive away or something normal like that.

It seemed like only a few minutes had passed when the bell rang, startling her out of her careful scrutiny of the car. She stood up quickly and grabbed her bag, turning around to catch one last glimpse of the car. But it was gone.

The last two classes of the day practically flew past. All of Noah's thoughts were on that bizarre cop car. She hadn't seen anyone approach the car, and she was certain that she hadn't looked away long enough for anyone to walk up and drive away.

Unless it had been driving itself.

That thought just kept niggling at the edge of her mind. It was maddening. She didn't want to accept it, but it was the only possibility that would make sense time-wise.

When the last bell rang, Noah jumped up and grabbed her bag, eager to just get home and sleep for a while. She cast the cop car from her mind.

She hurried out of the school and began the ten minute walk home. The sun was shining and it gave off a happy sort of vibe.

Noah smiled and waved at a girl from her class as she drove by, silently hoping she would offer her a lift home. She didn't.

Noah began kicking a pebble down the street, barely paying attention as to what she was doing. She didn't bother looking up as she crossed the road.

The sound of squealing brakes, however, caused her to jerk her head up and jump out of the way as a car skidded past her. It whirled in a full circle, and turned to face her. It was the cop car she had seen outside the school.

"I'm really sorry!" she shouted, running over to the sidewalk. Now that she was closer to the car she could see a dark form in the drivers seat, but the windows were tinted darker than she remembered, so she couldn't make out a face or features.

The cop didn't get out or even pull down the window to berate her like Noah had expected. He just sat there with the car turned to face her.

After a couple of moments of waiting for the cop to do something, Noah decided to just leave.

She turned and started walking, continuing her journey home. She heard an engine and turned her head to see the cop car driving along behind her. She tried to ignore it. After all, the cop could have just been headed the same way she was.

After a couple more minutes though, Noah became pretty sure that it was following her. She began to get uneasy, and decided that she might as well just confront the cop.

Noah stopped walking and turned to face the car, which stopped at the same time she did. She stepped over to it and crossed her arms, waiting for the policeman to roll down the window or open the door or something. When nothing happened, she tapped on the glass. Still nothing. Noah frowned and bent down to the window curiously, trying to peer in. The window was too dark, however, and she couldn't see anything other than her own reflection. She considered opening the door herself, but changed her mind.

She blew out an irritated huff of air and whirled around to continue walking home, again. To her great annoyance, the police car followed.

"What is your problem?" Noah yelled at it, walking faster. The car just sped up.

Noah threw up her hands in defeat. "Fine. Okay. You win. Congratulations. What the hell do you want? I've learnt my lesson. I promise I'll look next time I cross the road! Just quit following me!" she yelled, stomping her foot.

No answer. She looked at the car suspiciously, taking a hesitant step towards it. It didn't move.

Noah walked over to it again, but didn't go as close this time, choosing to observe from afar. "Hello? Can you at least answer me?" she called.

She sighed when nothing happened and glanced around at her surroundings. No one was around and she was still a couple of blocks away from her aunts house. Noah glared silently at the car for another moment, before turning around and taking one step forwards.

She had barely taken her next step when she heard the door of the car click. She turned and saw the passenger side door was open slightly. Her curiosity got the better of her and she walked around to that side and tugged open the door fully.

The car was empty. She frowned and leaned in further to check the back seats.

Suddenly, the seatbelt seemed to come alive and wrap itself around her waist. Noah shrieked as it pulled her into the car and the door shut. She struggled desperately against the seatbelt as the tires squealed and the car shot forward. She yelled in total panic, lashing out at the car with her legs and arms.

The seatbelt from the empty drivers seat stretched over and restrained her arms, pinning them over her head and strapping them there.

"If you do not stop struggling, I will be forced to sedate you." a deep voice came out of the car.

Noah froze, her eyes widening. The voice seemed to come out of the radio. "You can talk?" she whispered hoarsely.

The car seemed to find this amusing. "Yes, little human. I can talk. You are Noah Rogers, are you not?"

Noah's eyes widened even further at this. This creepy, talking car knew her name. All she could manage to do was nod.

"You are the byproduct of Jeremy Rogers and Natasha Renner, correct?" the car asked.

Noah nodded again. "How do you know that?" She asked quietly. The seatbelts tightened around her waist and arms and she yelped in pain.

"I am asking the questions! You have no place to question me, is that understood?" the car roared.

Noah winced and nodded quickly. The car seemed satisfied by her submission.

"Where is your father?" it demanded.

"I don't know." Noah said, pulling slightly at the seatbelt binding her wrist.

"Do not lie!" the car roared.

Noah recoiled in fright. "I'm not lying! I don't know! He's on a mission for the government. That's all I know." she whispered.

The car made a growling noise, clearly not pleased. "If you won't tell me, then I will have to hand you over to my.. boss. And he will force you to tell him. Or he may allow me to force you to tell him."

Noah winced. "But I don't know!" she insisted.

The seatbelts tightened around her suddenly and she gasped in pain.

"Be silent! I did not give you permission to speak." the car roared.

Noah flinched and kept silent. She stared out the window for a couple of minutes, watching as the car drove out of town and made its way to the freeway.

Suddenly it hit her; she was being kidnapped by an evil police car.


	2. Chapter 2

Noah shifted uncomfortably, suddenly feeling the need to make conversation. "Can I have permission to speak?" she asked quietly.

The car was silent for a moment. "Yes." the word was clipped.

"What's your name?" she asked curiously.

She could feel the seatbelts and the seat itself tense. There was a prolonged silence before the car answered. "Barricade."

Noah's eyebrows scrunched together in confusion. "Huh?"

"My name is Barricade." he repeated impatiently.

"Oh. That's a nice name." Noah said, nodding her head.

Barricade said nothing.

A couple more minutes passed. "Can I have permission to speak?" Noah asked again, leaning forwards as best as she could without hurting her arms.

Barricade muttered an affirmative.

"I need to pee." Noah told him.

"What?" Barricade asked, confused.

"Pee. I need to pee." Noah said impatiently. "You know, urinate? Release the waters? Relieve myself?"

Barricade growled. "Can't you wait? I cannot stop in case the Autobots pick up my signal and track me here."

Noah had no idea who or what the Autobots were and at that moment, she didn't care. "Please? I really need to go. I'm about to explode." she said, squirming in the seat.

Barricade growled impatiently. "It is physically impossible for a human to explode from holding too much liquid."

"How do you know? You're not a human." Noah shot back.

Barricade growled in frustration. "No, but I have Internet connection! And I am not stopping!"

"Fine, I'll just pee on your seat!" Noah yelled at him, forgetting that he was an evil alien car in her desperation to empty her bladder.

"_DON'T YOU DARE_!" Barricade roared, the wheel wrenching sideways as he turned onto a little dirt road and slammed on the brakes at a little abandoned gas station.

The seatbelts retracted quickly and freed Noah, who rubbed her wrists in relief and jumped out of the car and ran desperately for the bathroom. She reached the door and tried to wrench it open, but it was locked.

Her wail of despair caused Barricade to drive closer and investigate what was wrong.

"It's locked." Noah told him miserably, pressing her legs together.

Barricade grumbled in irritation. "For Primus' sake.. Starsceam is going to kill me if I'm late."

Noah opened her mouth to ask who Primus and Starscream were, but her words failed her at what happened next.

Barricade began to fold into himself, metal plates and pieces rearranging themselves until where once was a police car there now stood a twenty foot tall black and white robot with glowing red eyes.

Noah gaped at him, absolutely terrified. She couldn't even run; her feet were rooted to the ground.

The huge robot version of Barricade reached a giant hand down. Noah leaped out of the way, but Barricade hadn't been reaching for her. Instead, he flicked the locked bathroom door with a huge metal finger, causing it to break almost directly in half and fall to the ground.

Noah yelled out a thanks as she raced in to the now unlocked bathroom.

"Just hurry up." Barricade rumbled annoyedly.

Noah returned a few moments later, a happy smile on her face. "Better." she announced.

Barricade was just about to transform back down into car mode when his radio crackled.

Noah frowned and looked around, trying to discern where the noise was coming from. Barricade tilted his head, listening to a message that Noah couldn't hear. The message didn't appear to be good, because Barricade tensed and whirled around, red eyes flashing as he stared over a whole bunch of trees.

"What?" Noah wanted to know, craning her neck and standing on her toes, trying futilely to see what Barricade was looking for.

He said nothing, just bent down and wrapped his fingers around her, picking her up and sitting her in his big, metal hand.

Noah shrieked and banged her fists against his huge thumb. Barricade almost laughed at her, her attempts completely fruitless yet amusing nonetheless. "Quiet, human. Their audio sensors will be on high." he warned her.

Noah's struggling lessened, but didn't cease completely. "Who's audio sensors?" she asked, pushing at his fingers in an attempt to loosen his grip.

"Autobots." he growled, activating his GPS unit. He searched for the energy signature of the Autobot and growled when he saw it was less than a mile away.

He set Noah down carelessly on the ground and she fell over. She scowled and picked herself up as he transformed back into the police car.

"Get in." he said through the radio.

Noah hesitated, not feeling all to eager to return to being tied up with seatbelts.

"Now." Barricade growled.

Noah pursed her lips. "Promise you won't hold me down with your seatbelts?"

Barricade growled in frustration. "Just get in!"

"Not until you promise!" Noah crossed her arms stubbornly across her chest.

"I promise! Get in!" Barricade roared angrily.

Noah scurried over and dove in. The door shut itself and the engine roared as Barricade tore down the dirt road and back onto the freeway, easily breaking every speed limit they came across.

Noah clung on to the seat and wondered if she would have been safer being tied down with the seat belts. At least she would be secure if they crashed.

What looked like a little map had popped up on a screen on Barricade's dashboard, and it showed a little flashing dot heading right for the dot that represented Barricade.

"It's getting closer." Noah said in a trembling voice. She really didn't want to be attacked by another car/robot today. One was enough.

Barricade didn't reply. He found that the tremble in the human girls voice disgusted him. She was so weak.

The dot on the screen was extremely close now, and Noah twisted in her seat to see out the back window. There were only a couple of other cars on the road, but one caught her eye in particular; a yellow Camaro with black racing stripes. It looked pretty normal, except for the fact that there was no driver.

"Human. If you do not stop scratching my leather, I will quite happily rip you in two." Barricade's voice growled from the radio.

Noah whipped her hands away from the seat. She had been unaware that she had been digging her nails into the soft leather seats in her anxiety. "Sorry." she said quickly, turning her head back around to see out the back window again.

The yellow Camaro had gotten closer. Noah was sure that if she reached out the window she would be able to touch it.

"What does it want?" Noah asked, not taking her eyes off the Camaro.

Barricade growled. "To mess up our plans. I would love to stop and fight, to show him who's boss."

"Why don't you?" Noah asked curiously. In her opinion, Barricade seemed to enjoy the thought of violence, but he hadn't delivered on any of his threats so far.

"Because I have orders to bring you back to Base unharmed." he growled resentfully.

"Orders from who?" Noah asked, shifting in the seat and looking back at the dashboard, unsure of what she should be talking to.

"Starscream. •Lord Starscream." Barricade said. Noah detected bitterness in the way he said 'lord'.

"Oh. Why does he want me?" she asked, frowning slightly.

Barricade didn't answer, instead making a sudden right turn and heading down a small road.

Noah held onto the edge of her seat as she was bounced around the car as he drove down the bumpy road. She glanced out the window and saw that the yellow car had followed them down the little road.

"Foolish scout." Barricade growled. "I will rip him apart."

Barricade swerved suddenly, the entire car skidding along until it had done a 180 spin and was facing the Camaro.

Noah squealed in fright and tried to cling into the seats. Barricade opened the door and Noah was cast onto the side of the road.

She winced as she felt the skin on her hands being torn, and looked back in time to see Barricade changing into his robot form.

The yellow car began to change too. Noah gazed in amazement at the two robots as they faced off. She noticed that the yellow robot had glowing blue optics rather than red ones like Barricade. He was also slightly smaller.

The yellow robot made several loud bleeping noises, and it took Noah a moment to realise that it was trying to communicate. Barricade seemed to understand what he was saying, and he laughed. It was a scary, rumbling sound that sounded worse than his growl.

The yellow robot beeped again, then pointed a huge finger at Noah, who yelped and scurried away to hide behind a tree at the side of the road.

"You cannot have her. I have strict orders from Lord Starscream. Go and find another fleshbag for yourself." Barricade said.

The Autobot didn't move, and his gaze didn't shift from the tree that Noah was hiding behind.

"Very well." Barricade growled, raising his arm, which transformed into a cannon.

Noah winced and covered her ears as the loud bang went off, then poked her head out to see what had happened.

The Autobot was lying on the ground about twenty feet from where he had originally been standing, wih scorch marks covering his chest. His blue eyes filled with anger and he stood up quickly, pointing his own arm cannon at Barricade and firing.

Noah screamed and covered her head to try and block the falling branches of the tree that Barricade had just smacked into. To her horror, it began to tip over. She squealed and ran away, trying to avoid being squashed by the tree as it hit the ground heavily.

She found herself in the middle of the road, which was smashed up and looked like a bomb had hit it. The yellow robot extended its hand towards her and she yelped in fright, stumbling away. She didn't want it to hurt her, especially after she had seen its arm cannons.

Barricade was standing up and growling angrily. He stepped forwards and launched himself at the Autobot.

Noah didn't know which way to run, she was just desperate to get away from the robots' fight. She slipped on a piece of metal debris which looked like it had been blown off one of the robots and cut her stomach. She hissed in pain and clutched at her tummy. Pulling up her t-shirt, Noah was horrified to see blood beginning to flow out of the wound, which stretched from her first rib down to her belly button.

Noah took deep breaths and pressed her hand to the wound. She glanced behind her to see Barricade was pointing his arm cannon at the yellow robot, who was lying defeated on the ground beneath him.

"No!" Noah yelled desperately, stumbling over to where Barricade was standing victoriously. "Please don't kill him."

Barricade narrowed his glowing red optics at her. "It is none of your concern."

Noah stood in front of the yellow robot as firmly as she could considering she was swaying slightly as the wound on her stomach made her feel lightheaded. "Don't kill him. You said we didn't have time. That means we have to go. Now."

Barricade was glaring furiously at her. "Get out of the way, femme."

Noah had no idea what a femme was. "No. We have to go. You said you had orders for me not to be harmed! Well, I hurt myself!" she yelled at him, pulling up her t-shirt so he could see the blood trickling down her stomach.

Barricade growled. "You are just a human. Injuries are expected."

"I'm about to die from loss of blood, so you had better get me a doctor right now!" Noah yelled, swaying on the spot. She was well aware that she had exaggerated slightly, but she was desperate to get him moving.

Barricade growled angrily and turned to the yellow robot. "I will finish this another time. Consider yourself lucky.". And with that he transformed down into his car form and opened the door for Noah to get in.

She stumbled over and used the door to support herself as she got in. Once inside, she practically collapsed on the seat and tried her best to apply pressure to her wound.

"Did you see the punch I threw? It was the best! I almost knocked his sorry aft straight back to Cybertron!" Barricade crowed in delight as he tore off down the road, heading for the freeway.

After a couple more minutes of his boasting, he realised that he was getting no reply. He glanced at the human girl, wondering why he was getting no reaction and saw that she was passed out in the seat. "Slaggit." he cursed, speeding up and overtaking a truck that was going too slow for his liking. "If she dies, Starscream will put me offline. And she's getting her internal bodily fluids on my seat."

He glared at Noah as the blood from her small, wounded body spread over his leather upholstery.

He sped up even further and reached the Decepticon base in just under five minutes.

Once he got past security, he opened his door and threw a limp and unmoving Noah onto the ground before transforming. He picked up her small form as carefully as he could, then turned and walked inside.

He found Starscream in his 'office', a room filled with video display units that showed every room in the Decepticon base, and showed energon signals and where they were coming from.

"Lord Starscream." Barricade said respectfully, trying to force the bitterness in his voice to a minimum. "I have the human femme."

Starscream looked up from where he was tracking energon signals and stood. "Ah, good. We will began interrogation-" he broke off when he caught sight of Noah's limp body lying across Barricade's hand. "What happened to her?"

Barricade shifted uncomfortable under Starscream's intense glare. "Uhh.. We- I was intercepted by the Autobot Bumblebee. I defeated him, but the human was injured."

Starscream's optics brightened in anger. "You stopped to brawl after I gave you specific instructions to bring the femme back unharmed? Tell me you at least put the meddlesome scout offline." Starscream's voice dropped dangerously.

Barricade dropped his gaze to the floor. "The human prevented me from doing so."

Starscream didn't move for a long moment. "The human prevented you from doing so." he repeated quietly. "This human?" he gestured to the unmoving body of the girl.

Barricade nodded, optics still trained on the floor. "She was not in stasis then. She stood in front of the 'bot and told me she was going to die if I didn't get her to a medic."

Starscream's optics brightened further with even more anger. "And you only though to mention this to me now? If she dies, she will be of no use to us! Get her to a medic! Now!" he roared, causing Barricade to whirl around and almost trip over himself in his haste to get away.

Starscream growled angrily and sat back down, facing his many computer screens. "Why am I surrounded by imbeciles?" he growled to himself.

He made a silent promise to himself that if the human girl went offline, he would return the favour to Barricade.


	3. Chapter 3

**ok, wow. i was so not expecting the reaction i got for the first 2 chapters! thank you so much to everyone who read and left reviews and added this story to their favourites or to story alert! it means a lot! so i hope this chapter is up to standards :P pleeease review to let me know what you think! :)**

When Noah woke up, she was lying on an uncomfortable bed in a white room.

She sat up and winced at the pain coming from her stomach. She looked down and saw that her wound had been bandaged.

"Hello?" she called nervously, standing up unsteadily and holding onto the bed for support.

The room she was in was huge, far too big for a human, even if there was a human sized bed. Noah walked towards the huge oversized door, feeling as though she were in Wonderland and had just swallowed some magic potion to make her tiny.

"Is anyone there? Hello?" she continued to call, staring up at the door.

When no one answered, she returned to the bed and sat down heavily. She looked around the room, but it was empty except for her bed.

She looked down at herself next. She was wearing the same jeans and t-shirt that she had worn to school, except they were in tatters, and her t-shirt was revealing a bit more of her than Noah felt comfortable with.

There was a loud clanging noise and the huge door began to open. Noah leaped to her feet and stared at the door as she waited for someone to walk in.

Another robot walked in, but it wasn't Barricade. This robot had the same glowing red optics, but was more angular and slender, and had an air of intelligence about him. "Ah, you have awoken from your recharge period." he said, staring down at her.

Noah nodded. "Who are you?" she asked curiously.

"I am Lord Starscream, Commander of the Decepticons." he said regally.

Noah raised her eyebrows. "Oh. You're the one who wanted me here."

"Indeed." Starscream bent closer to her, curious. This human was not like the other ones he had come across. She did not scream and run, or try to futilely fight him with small and insignificant weapons. "Why are you not afraid?"

Noah frowned. "Should I be?"

Starscream tilted his angular head. "All the other humans have been. Why are you different?"

"You haven't given me any reason to be afraid. You even bandaged my cut." she explained, gesturing to her stomach.

"It was not me who healed you." Starscream told her, bringing his head down even closer to her, to inspect her further.

Noah shrugged. "You're the boss man. You gave the order, right?"

"Right." Starscream answered quietly, surveying her. "Where is your father?" he asked suddenly.

Noah blinked at the sudden change of subject. "I don't know. On a mission for the government. Why do you want to know?" she asked, putting her hands in her hips and frowning up at him.

Starscream almost laughed at the look of defiance on her tiny face. She was definitely like no human he had ever encountered. "Because where he is, they are." he told her, his bright red optics gazing at her intently.

"Who are? The Autobots?" Noah asked curiously.

Starscream raised the metal plates above his optics. "Yes. How do you know of them?"

"I watched Barricade fighting one. It was kinda terrifying." Noah shivered from the memory.

Starscream found that he didn't feel repulsed by the human's weakness, but actually felt sorry for her. "You will not witness such a thing again. Barricade disobeyed direct orders from me. He will be punished." he assured her.

"No! Don't hurt him! He didn't actually do anything wrong, he just tried to get the yellow robot off his tracks. It was my fault I got hurt! I ran and fell on a piece of metal. He shouldn't be punished." Noah said quickly.

Starscream observed her for a long moment. "He kidnapped you. And yet you do not wish him to be punished. You are a strange human."

Noah smiled slightly. "I get told that a lot. You're going to let me go, right? I can't stay here forever." she pleaded with Starscream.

He just looked down at her. "You will stay here for as long as we should need you." he said, straightening up.

"What? But- what do you need me for?" she yelled desperately at him.

Starscream didn't answer, just headed for the door. Noah launched herself desperately after him, grabbing hold of his huge foot and wrapping her legs and arms around it. "Don't leave!" she yelled, hugging his leg tighter.

"Wh- femme! Let go!" Starscream commanded, frowning down at his foot.

Noah shook her head, clinging desperately on to the metal plates and grooves around his ankle.

Starscream let out a weird sort of annoyed sigh, only he didn't breathe out any air. He bent down and plucked her off his foot with his pointed fingers, then sat her in his palm and brought his hand up to his face.

Noah trembled slightly, fearing what he might do to her. "Please don't leave me alone." she whispered pitifully.

Starscream felt a strange emotion surge throughout him, one he couldn't identify. He stared at the small human girl in his hand as a single tear fell down her face. "Fine." he said gruffly, transferring her to his shoulder plate as he opened the door to her room and walking down the halls of the base.

He arrived at his office without meeting any other Decepticons, thankfully. He sat down in his seat and began tapping away at his keyboards, searching for any energon signatures in the area and trying to ignore the little human as she tried to climb down his arm.

"What are you doing?" he asked at last, unable to concentrate as he felt the girl tickling his elbow as she crawled down his arm plates.

"I'm trying to get to the table." she said, sitting up and looking wide-eyed at him.

He sighed irritably and picked her up by the tatters of her t-shirt. She yelped as he lifted her through the air and plopped her down on the table, next to one of his keyboards. "Don't break anything." he warned her.

Noah smiled innocently at him. "Of course I won't."

Starscream watched her closely as she wandered around the table aimlessly, taking interest in things quickly and then losing it just as fast.

"I'm hungry." she announced suddenly.

Starscream blinked his optics at her. "What?"

"I'm hungry." Noah repeated slowly. "I need food."

Starscream frowned. "Food. Is that the sustenance humans need instead of energon?"

Noah frowned. "That depends. Is energon the sustenance robots need instead of food?"

Starscream's mouthplates curved upwards in a smile. "I believe so. I will get some 'food' for you." he said, tapping out a message into the mainframe of the computer.

"What did you do?" Noah asked curiously, standing on her toes to try and see what he was doing.

"I sent a message to Blackout. You will receive your sustenance shortly." he told her, returning his attention to the energon signatures.

Noah looked around the room curiously. It seemed pretty boring, and Starscream didn't look like he was about to get into a conversation.

"Lord Starscream?" a voice mumbled from the door.

Noah looked around to see another giant robot standing in the doorway holding a huge tray with tiny amounts of food on it. Noah jumped up in delight, but before she could say anything, Starscream stood up and was standing in front of her, carefully shielding her from the new robots sight. "Thank you, Blackout. You are dismissed."

Blackout frowned slightly as he handed the tray to Starscream. "What do you need this ••human food for?" he asked in disgust.

"We are holding a human captive, Blackout. Did that slip your tiny processor?" Starscream asked, clearly annoyed at the questions.

"I am aware of the human. Every Decepticon at the base is aware of her. I was curious as to why you wanted the food brought here, rather than to her cell." Blackout pointed out.

Starscream put the tray on the table next to Noah, still hiding her from view. "Are you questioning me, Blackout?" he asked, his voice deadly.

"No." Blackout said quickly, clearly picking up on the change of tone. "I was just- just curious."

Noah had practically dived onto the food. It was just a plate of tinned beans and slightly stale bread, but she was so hungry that she couldn't care less. She had been listening to the two Decepticon's conversation, but most if her attention was focused on the food.

She shifted slightly and her wounded stomach banged into the oversized tray. "Ow!" she yelped in pain, hand flying to her bandaged stomach.

Starscream's head flew around to see if she was alright. "What did you do?" he demanded, forgetting for an instant that Blackout was there.

"I hurt my stomach against the tray." Noah muttered, wrapping her arms around her body.

Starscream looked almost concerned for a moment, before Blackout's voice came from behind him. "Ah. So that's why you didn't want it brought to her cell."

Starscream whirled around and glared at him. "What are you still doing here? I dismissed you!"

Blackout grinned. "Sorry, boss. I got distracted by the human femme. I've never seen one so close before." he said, leaning closer to Noah, who backed away so quickly she tripped and landed on her backside.

"Blackout." Starscream warned dangerously.

Blackout said nothing, just brought his face closer to Noah. His face wasn't full of curiosity like Starscream's had been, his face was full of malice as he leered at her. "Hello little femme. Would you like to play?" When Noah said nothing, he turned to Starscream. "Can she talk?"

"Of course she can talk!" Starscream snapped at him.

Blackout turned his attention back to Noah. "Come on, we will play." he said, stretching his fingers out to her and plucking her off the table and into his hand.

Noah shrieked and grabbed onto one of his fingers to prevent herself from falling.

Blackout laughed. "She's so small! Hello!" he grinned, raising her up to his optics.

Noah glared at him. "Put me down." she told him firmly.

Blackout laughed. "But we haven't had a chance to play yet, little one."

Noah struggled desperately against his grip. "I don't want to! Put me down!"

Blackout looked up at Starsceam, who was watching with his mouthplates clenched tightly together, trying to tell himself that this was what the human deserved. She was only a human. She meant nothing. "Is a human femme body like a Decepticon femme?" Blackout asked Starscream curiously.

"I do not know. I did not have such perverted thoughts." Starscream answered stiffly.

Blackout grinned. "We should find out." he said, and tore off what was left of Noah's tattered t-shirt, leaving her in just her jeans and bra.

Noah screamed loudly and immediately stopped trying to beat Blackout's hand and instead tried to cover herself up by crossing her arms across her chest.

Blackout then proceeded to rip her jeans, which was particularly painful. Noah screamed again and tried to kick him away, but to no avail.

Blackout laughed and tossed her ripped and tattered jeans behind him. "You do look somewhat like a Decepticon femme. Except you are a lot.. softer and more.. fragile."

"_Enough!_." Starscream roared suddenly.

Blackout jumped and turned to face him.

Starscream glared at him and held out his hand. "Give her to me."

Blackout frowned. "Why do you get to have her? I want something to play with too." he said pettily.

Starscream growled. "Hand her over. _Now_."

Blackout scowled and dropped Noah roughly into Starscream's hand. "We will play later, little femme." he told her before turning and walking away.

Starscream was shaking with anger, his central processing unit almost overloading with fury.

Noah whimpered and wrapped her arms around her half naked body, drawing Starscream's attention back to her. "Are you okay?" he asked, surveying her closely.

Noah closed her eyes. She felt humiliated. Embarrassed. Dirty. "I'm fine." she whispered hoarsely.

Starscream just stared at her. "I.. I'm sorry. I should have stopped him. I just- I couldn't." he tried to explain.

Noah lifted her head to him, and he felt his spark tighten as he saw tears stream down her face. "Why couldn't you?" she asked, her throat raw.

Starscream opened and closed his mouth twice before he managed to say anything. "Because.. My people would think I am weak if they were to know I tried to protect a- a human."

Noah took in a shaky breath and managed to stand up, keeping her arms folded across her in an attempt to cover as much of herself up as possible. "I want to go home." she whispered.

Starscream steeled himself, ignoring the flutter of pity in his spark. "You cannot."

He was not prepared for Noah's reaction. Her head snapped up and her eyes flashed dangerously. She seemed to forget that she was wearing nothing but a bra and panties. "Then take me back to my fucking cell. Just get me the fuck away from _here_." she snapped furiously.

Under different circumstances, Starscream would have punished her severely for speaking to him in that manner. He possibly would have killed her. As it were, he hurried as fast as he could to her cell before she could yell at him again.

He set her down on the floor gently, and then backed away slowly.

Just before he exited the room, she raised her head. "Starscream?"

Starscream stopped and turned his head at the sound of her voice. "Yes?"

"I need clothes." Noah pointed out.

Starscream nodded. "I will make sure you get some."

"Please.. Please choose someone other then Blackout to bring them to me." she begged quietly.

Starscream looked at her and nodded. "I will have Knockout bring them to you."

Noah nodded and sat on her bed, drawing her knees up to her chest. She watched Starscream as he left the room, and left her alone.


	4. Chapter 4

About an hour after Starscream left, Noah's cell door opened again and a red and grey Decepticon entered with a pile of clothes.

Noah sat up on the bed quickly as he walked over and placed the clothes by the foot of her bed, then turned and began to leave. "Wait! Please don't go!" she cried, desperate for company.

The robot turned and sneered at her. "What makes you think I would want to stay with a little pile of flesh like you?"

Noah shrunk back slightly at his tone. "I just want someone to talk to. I'm bored."

The robot just stared at her. "Tell us where your father is. Then we can see about getting you someone to talk to." he said, crossing his arms across his chest with a loud sound of grating metal.

Noah groaned loudly and hit the bed with her fists. "I don't know where he is! If you want him so badly, can't you use some kind of super-advanced tracking device?"

The robot frowned. "The tracking devices only work on Cybertronians. Humans do not produce energon, so our technology finds it difficult to locate them." he explained.

"You found me just fine." Noah pointed out, scowling.

"We simply accessed the mainframe computer of the school network to find out which school you went to." the robot shrugged, making the metal in his shoulders creak loudly.

"What's your name?" Noah asked curiously, standing up and walking over to the pile of clothes.

"Knock Out." the robot replied, watching her as she went through the clothes, trying to find something that would fit. "Those were the only clothes we had."

"That's okay. I'm Noah." she said, picking up a pink, florally dress that looked her size.

"I am aware. The internet has led me to believe that the name 'Noah' was meant for males of your species." Knock Out said, sitting on the floor with a crash of metal.

Noah sighed. "It is. My mom and dad wanted a boy." she said. "Is this dress the only thing my size? Everything else seems to be meant for extra extra large men."

"They are the only clothes we have. My records show that your mother no longer exists." Knock Out tilted his head curiously.

"Yeah. She died when I was ten." Noah said quietly, slipping the dress on over her head. It was made of a floaty fabric and reached just below her knees. She hated it instantly.

Knock Out was silent for a moment. "As a human would say, that sucks."

Noah laughed. "Yeah. It does. After she died, my dad got transferred to a new military programme. We moved around a lot until three years ago, when he got transferred overseas somewhere. I haven't seen him since." she said quietly, sitting back down on the bed and hugging her knees.

Knock Out stared at her from his seat on the floor. "According to the Internet, three years is a long time for a human youngling to go without seeing their parent."

"Yeah, It is. But at least I know I'll see him when he comes home." Noah smiled brightly. Her smile faded when she looked around, though. "That is, if I ever get home."

Knock Out looked at her with something akin to pity on his red optics. "Do not worry, No-ah. I'm sure you will see your father again." he tried to assure her. She bit back a giggle at the way he broke down her name into two different parts.

Noah smiled hopefully at him. "Really? You think Starscream will let me go?"

Knock Out hesitated. He knew that it was extremely unlikely, nearly impossible, but he didn't want to destroy the look of hope on Noah's face. "Maybe. But he wants information on your father first."

Noah angrily blew a piece of hair out of her face. "I just told you everything I know. I haven't spoken to him in three years!"

Knock Out opened his mouthplates to answer, but before he could say anything another voice came from the direction of the door. "What are you doing?"

Both Noah and Knock Out whipped their heads around. Starscream was standing in the doorway, staring at the unusual scene in front of him; the human girl with the waist-length hair and little pink dress sitting on the bed and talking to the twenty five foot tall Decepticon sitting cross-legged on the floor.

"Talking." Noah told him, smiling cheerfully.

Knock Out scrambled to his feet, with a very loud crashing of metal. "Lord Starscream. I- I was just bringing Noa- uh.. The femme. I was bringing the femme the clothes you requested for her."

"Is that so." Starscream didn't phrase it as a question. "Why were you on the floor?"

Knock Out opened his mouth, but seemingly couldn't find an answer, so Noah spoke up. "We were talking."

Starscream turned his optics on her. "I did not give you permission to speak."

Noah scowled at him. "I didn't need permission to speak earlier." she reminded him.

"That was different. I was directing my questions at you earlier. Now, I am speaking to him." Starscream gestured to Knock Out.

Noah opened her mouth irritably, but Knockout spoke before she could. "I will get back to work, sir."

Starscream turned his attention back to him. "I think that's a good idea. Breakdown got into another fight. He's in the medical bay and I believe you are the medic, last time I checked. Go and help him. Now." he said, narrowing his optics at him.

Knock Out nodded and whirled around, heading for the door.

"Will you come back later?" Noah called after him.

Knock Out hesitated by the door and glanced at Starscream. "We'll see." he said uncertainly, before continuing out the door.

Noah frowned and blew out an angry gust of air. "Did you have to do that?" she demanded of Starscream.

He frowned back at her. "I do not know what you mean."

"Yes you do. You locked me in this room on my own and didn't give me anyone to talk to, then suddenly when I get someone to talk to, you send them away!" Noah said, crossing her arms.

"Knock Out is meant to be on duty in the medical bay." Starscream frowned.

Noah scowled. "Who's Breakdown?" she changed the subject.

Starscream sighed. Her curiosity was irritating, but he liked the sparkle in her eyes when she acquired knew knowledge. "He is Knock Out's partner. It is quite amusing really, because where Breakdown would rather go offline than run from a fight, Knock Out would be terrified of scratching his paint." Starscream snorted.

Noah smiled slightly. "Can Knock Out come back later, so I can talk to someone?" she asked pleadingly.

"You are in no position to be making requests, femme. You are my prisoner, remember?" Starscream scowled.

Noah raised her eyebrows. "_Your_ prisoner? Just yours? Being a tad selfish, are we?"

"Yes, _my_ prisoner. I gave the order for you to be captured. And Decepticons are simply selfish by nature." Starscream shrugged his slender metal shoulders.

Noah tilted her head to the side. "You may have given the order, but it was Barricade who 'captured' me. So does that not make me his prisoner?"

"No! I am the leader of the Decepticons! You are mine!" he growled territorially.

Noah raised her eyebrows. Starscream didn't strike her as a 'leader of an entire race' sort of guy. "I'm not your dog. You don't _own_ me. And who was leader before you?"

"Megatron. But he is.. Unavailable." Starscream narrowed his eyes at the mention of his old commander.

"What do you mean?" Noah asked curiously.

"Lord Megatron was put offline in a battle against the Autobots a couple of months ago. We have a plan to bring him back however, don't worry." Starscream said cryptically.

Noah's forehead creased as she went over this information in her head. "Oh. But that would mean you wouldn't be leader, right?"

Starscream's optics narrowed. "Yes, I would likely return to being second in command. Megatron is fearsome, and I would be most.. apprehensive of what might happen of he were to come online in some other way and find out that his faithful Decepticons did not attempt to bring him back. But even of he were to reactivate, I am sure he would allow me to keep you as my pet."

Noah opened her mouth to continue questioning him, but Starscream shook his head. "No more questions. It is time for you to go to sleep. You need your rest after that injury." funny. He sounded almost.. concerned.

The minute he said the word 'sleep' Noah felt tired. "I don't want to go to bed." she said stubbornly.

Starscream frowned at her. "Well, you have to."

"Why?" Noah frowned back at him.

"Because I said so." Starscream answered.

"That's not a reason!" Noah argued, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Yes it is! I'm in charge here. Go to sleep." he commanded.

"You have an obsession with being in charge, don't you? I don't want to sleep! It's early!" Noah shook her head.

Starscream growled. "I'm being responsible! After an injury it is vital that a human gets rest! And it is eleven pm. That is late enough by human standards, so it is bedtime!"

"I don't have a _bedtime_! I'm seventeen! And how do you know what's 'vital' when a human gets injured?" Noah demanded.

"The Internet." Starscream growled. "And seventeen is still sparkling age."

"I'm eighteen in two weeks. Then I'm an adult!" she said, then yawned and clapped her hand over her mouth.

Starscream pointed at her. "Aha! You're tired! I knew it!" he said triumphantly.

Noah scowled. "Fine. I'm tired. But I don't want to sleep."

"Why not?" Starscream asked, half irritated half curious.

"I'm afraid." she admitted quietly.

Starscream blinked. "Oh. Well.. You won't be harmed. No one will go near you. You have my word." he promised.

Noah hugged her knees. "Okay." she whispered.

Starscream nodded once. "When Knock Out is finished with his medical duty, I will have him guard your cell, if it makes you feel safer." he said over his shoulder as he walked to the door.

"I think it might." Noah said quietly, lying back in the bed.

Starscream gave her one last glance before leaving her to sleep.


	5. Chapter 5

**okay, so this will be my last chapter for a while, because I'm going to Spain! yay! :D but I'll upload when I get back! :)Meanwhile, please keep reviewing! I love hearing what you think so much! Tell me what you would like to happen and stuff, and tell ME what what you like and dislike about the story :) It would really help me improve :) thank you for being so amazing! :D:D:D**

Noah woke up feeling refreshed. She rolled over and smiled slightly, burrowing deeper into her pillow. It took her a moment to realise that she wasn't at home.

She opened her eyes slowly, taking in the blank room around her. The events of the previous day hit her in a rush and she exhaled as if they had physically impacted with her.

She say up and winced at the sharp pain in her side, remembering too late that she had been wounded. "Ouch." she muttered absently, rubbing her side gently.

After a couple of minutes of sitting on the bed (though it felt like hours to Noah) she got up and walked over to the door. "Hello? Anyone out there? I'm really bored in here!" she called, hoping someone could hear her.

There was no answer. Noah blew out an angry gust of air. "Hello? I want to talk to Starscream! Or Knock Out! Someone! Please?" she added.

She could hear someone shifting on the other side if the door and begin to walk away, the heavy footsteps indicating that it was quite a large Decepticon.

Noah decided to just sit back down and wait. She began to hum to herself quietly.

After barely a couple of minutes, the door squeaked open and Starscream's slender body appeared in the doorway. "Yes?" he asked irritably.

Noah looked innocently at him. "What?"

"Breakdown said you wanted to talk to me." he said, narrowing his optics at her. "So talk. I'm very busy."

Noah smiled slightly at him. "I just wanted to talk to someone. Do you mean Breakdown as in Knock Out's partner?" she asked curiously.

Starscream pinched the bridge of his nose, causing Noah to giggle slightly. It was such a human gesture. "Yes, that Breakdown."

"Can I talk to him?" Noah asked, leaning forwards on the bed.

"No." Starscream said sharply.

"Why not?" Noah asked, surprised by the sharpness if his voice.

"He is not like Knock Out. Knock Out talks to you because you interest him. He has never studied a human at close range. Breakdown, however.. He tends to be a little.. paranoid." Starscream said hesitantly.

"Paranoid?" Noah inquired, raising her eyebrows.

"He tends to see conspiracy theories a lot. And he's not too fond of the idea of having you here. He thinks you might be a spy for the Autobots. So no, you will not be talking to him." Starscream said firmly, stepping inside the room fully and closing the door.

Noah frowned. "I'm sure I could convince him I'm not a spy if I got a chance to talk to him. Why do you talk to me?" she asked as Starscream opened his mouth to interrupt her.

He looked surprised. "What? You asked for me.. Didn't you?"

"Yes. But you didn't have to stay and talk. You said Knock Out talks to me because I interest him. Why do you talk to me?" she asked, leaning back against the wall.

Starscream seemed thrown by this question. "Because.. Because- because I'm interrogating you!" he said, but it sounded like he was trying to convince himself more than her.

"Really? Because you haven't asked me any questions yet." Noah pointed out.

"Do not try to make me look like a fool, human." Starscream growled, turning on his heel and starting for the door.

"No! Don't leave!" Noah cried, leaping off the bed. She hissed in pain when the bandages around her waist pulled at the congealed blood on her wound.

Starscream stopped dead and staredm at her with wide optics. "What happened? Are you okay?" he asked quickly, bending on one knee so he could see the tiny femme more closely.

"Yeah. I'm fine." Noah gasped, wincing slightly.

Starscream watched her closely. "You're in pain." he stated.

Noah shook her head. "No I'm not. I'm fine." she repeated.

Starscream did nothing for a moment, then picked her up in his slender metal fingers.

Noah shrieked in shock, completely unprepared for being lifted thirty feet in the air. "What are you doing?"

"Bringing you to Knock Out." he said shortly, walking out the door and down the hallway. "Stop struggling. You will only harm yourself."

He was right, Noah realised and stopped struggling, albeit reluctantly. "Why to Knock Out?" she asked, wincing slightly as her wound touched off the metal of Starscream's finger.

He noticed her pained expression and loosened his fingers immediately, leaving her to sit comfortably in his hand. He marvelled for a moment at how perfectly she fit into his palm. "He is the medic, remember? He was the one who bandaged you in the first place."

"Oh." Noah said, leaning back into his palm, trying to hide from the looks she was getting from the other Decepticons they were passing.

Starscream clearly noticed the looks too, because he held her closer to his chest. He stopped at a metal door that was marked with a red cross and pushed it open.

Knock Out was standing over an operating table, dissecting what looked like an engine from a tractor. He looked up when they entered. "Oh, hello. I was just-" he broke off and rose what looked like the giant robot version of eyebrows when he saw Noah seated in the palm of his temporary leaders palm.

"Her wound is causing her pain." Starscream said in answer to Knock Out's questioning look and tipped his palm so that Noah tumbled onto the operating table.

She yelped in pain as she hit the hard surface. "Jeez! Take it easy, 'scream." she winced and rubbed her side as she stood up.

Knock Out looked faintly amused. "'Scream'?" he grinned, but it faded quickly at the look on Starscream's face. "Stop touching the bandages. It took me ages to get them wrapped around your body. You're so slagging small." he scolded, turning to Noah and poking her arm.

The poke contained more force than Knock Out had intended and caused Noah to fall on her ass. "What, is it 'Bully Noah Day'?" she demanded irritably.

Starscream looked confused. "I don't believe there is such a day on the human calendar."

Noah rolled her eyes. "There's not, it's just a figure of- never mind. Can we just get this over with? I don't like doctors."

Knock Out put a hand to his chest. "I'm offended." he said mockingly, bending down to examine her.

Noah shook her head. "You're okay, I guess. You don't look like a doctor." she said as he began fiddling with the bandages.

"I know. That's because I like to look _good_." he said proudly.

Starscream snorted. "That's for sure. You should spend more time training and less time preening."

Knock Out glared at him. "At least I know the values of looking good."

"Just fix the femme." Starscream growled at Knock Out, glowering until he turned his attention back to Noah.

"'Screamy doesn't look so bad." Noah shrugged.

Knock Out raised the metal mars above his optics again and Starscream felt the metal on his cheeks warm suddenly. "'Screamy'?" they both asked at the same time.

Noah shrugged again. "Well, what do you suggest I call you?"

"Starscream. That is my ldesignation." Starscream stated firmly.

"It takes too long to say. I mean, it's pretty but I just want to shorten it so it's easier to say." Noah tried to explain.

Knock Out laughed while Starscream made a weird spluttering noise, like an old engine struggling to start. "It is not _pretty_!" he protested furiously.

"You don't think so? I do." Noah said, smiling.

Knock Out ducked his head, trying to hold in his laughter, and succeeded in getting the bandages off.

Noah glanced down at her side then immediately back up. "Oh god. Ew. Ew. Ew." Noah scrunched up her eyes.

"Fascinating." Knock Out tilted his head to the side. "It seems the humans internal bodily fluid congealed to form a new layer of skin."

"Yeah. That's what blood does." Noah gasped in pain as Knock Out poked the scab.

Starscream stiffened at Noah's pained gasp. "Knock Out, I brought her here so you could fix her, not turn her into a project."

Knock Out glanced up. "Oh, right. Well, I downloaded some knowledge of the human anatomy, and it's quite disgusting might I just add. There are some parts that I will never be able to unsee." he shuddered in disgust at some memory. "Anyway, I believe I just need to change the bandage to avoid to wound becoming septic."

"What parts will you never be able to unsee?" Noah asked, trying to keep her mind off the 'Septic' part.

"Where to start?" Knock Out muttered, grabbing another set of bandages. "Well for one, did you know humans don't interface?"

The question was clearly directed at Starscream, who frowned. "What? Of course they do. How do you think she got here?" he jabbed a finger in Noah's direction, who frowned confusedly.

"They don't _interface_. It's disgusting, actually. They have websites where you can watch videos of them try to reproduce." Knock Out informed him.

Noah cringed, finally copping on to what they were talking about. "Oh, god. Tell me you didn't watch the videos."

Knock Out shrugged. "I was curious."

"Ew." Noah shuddered.

"It was in the name of medicine! And I'm pretty sure it will be burned into my processor forever, even if I get a reboot. There, finished." he took a step back to admire his handiwork.

Noah smiled. "Thanks." she said to him, and turned to Starscream, who was already reaching out to her. "Do I have to go back to my cell now?"

"Where else would you go?" Starscream hesitated in picking her up.

"Can I go with you to your office again?" she asked hopefully.

Starscream paused. "Hmm.. I suppose. But I will not allow you to break anything, understood?" he asked sternly.

Knock Out snorted slightly, causing Starscream to face him. "Something funny?" he demanded.

Knock Out grinned. "You're treating her like a sparkling." he laughed.

Starscream glared at him. "She is not a sparkling. She is _human_." he said the word as if it were he most disgusting insult he could come up with.

Noah folded her arms. "Excuse me? What is _that_ supposed to mean?"

Starscream ignored her and picked her up, trying to be as gentle as he could without looking like he cared. "Keep up the good work." he said shortly to Knock Out, before turning and walking out the door.

Noah smiled and waved at Knock Out, and gained a small wave in return before Starscream rounded the corner.

They reached his office and he set her down on the desk before returning to work on the computers.

Noah said nothing for a few minutes. "What's interfacing?" she asked suddenly.

Starscream jumped, almost falling out of his seat. "What?" he yelped.

"You and Knock Out were talking about interfacing. What is it?" Noah tilted her head curiously.

Starscream actually looked awkward. "Uhhh. Oh. It's.. Well. I mean- it's- okay, this is something you should ask Knock Out."

Noah raised her eyebrows. His awkwardness was kind of cute. "Why won't you tell me?" she struggled to contain her smile. She knew what it was (or at least had a very good guess), but the look on Starscream's face was priceless.

Starscream was saved from having to answer when a buff, scary looking robot knocked on the door and entered hesitantly. "Lord Starscream? We found a-" he broke off when he caught sight of Noah, who was sitting cross legged on Starscream's desk. "You have an organic on your table."

Starscream stood up. "Breakdown. Yes. I do. She is, uhh.. giving us information about the Autobot base." he said quickly.

Breakdown looked sceptical. "Okay. Well, you won't need her. I found an Autobot signal from just a few miles west of here." he told him, looking proud of himself.

"What? How did I not see it?" Starscream demanded, turning back to his computers where a large blue dot was pulsing to the left of the screen.

"Maybe the human was distracting you with her information about the Autobot base." Breakdown said, his tone making it very clear that he did not believe Starscream's lie at all.

"Breakdown?" Noah piped up suddenly.

Both Breakdown's and Starscream's heads swivelled to her. "What?" Breakdown growled.

"What's interfacing?"

The question completely took the big mech off guard. "Wha-?"

"Starscream won't tell me." Noah pulled at face at Starscream and he rolled his optics.

Breakdown's optics had grown to about twice their normal size. "Uhhh... It's when a mech and femme- no, I mean.. It's- I don't feel comfortable answering this question."

Starscream snickered, causing Noah to raise her eyebrows. "Is there anyone that will answer?" she asked them. She had never seen two people look so awkward, never mind two giant alien robots.

"Knock Out." they both said at the same time.

Noah smiled. "I'll ask him next time I see him."

Breakdown nodded. "That's a good idea. I didn't think humans were capable of thinking like you do."

Noah frowned. "What? Of course they are. There are people ten times smarter than me that think like computers. I'm pretty average. Average smart, average thinking, average looking." she shrugged.

"No you're not." Starscream blurted before his processor could consider what he was saying. Both Noah and Breakdown stared at him, but he felt as though her green eyes were boring into him, almost as though she was reading his thoughts. He swiftly began thinking about something other than her.

Breakdown smirked slightly. "O-kay. Well. I'll leave you and your pet primate alone, and go to scout out the Autobot signal."

Starscream nodded quickly. "Yes, I- that's a good idea. But do not kill anyone. I want them brought back alive." he said, trying to regain his image of power.

Breakdown left the room, muttering "We'll see." under his breath.

"I mean it, Breakdown!" Starscream yelled after him, struggling to ignore the femmes gaze. After a couple more seconds, he came to terms with the fact he couldn't avoid it forever and looked up.

"What did you mean when you said I wasn't average?" she asked quietly.

Starscream shifted slightly, metal creaking. "I meant- I think you're too harsh on yourself. You were taken by the Decepticons and held prisoner, and yet you are taking it remarkably well. You haven't even needed to be sedated yet."

Noah resisted the urge to ask about the other people that had been taken prisoner and sedated. "I see." she said quietly.

"You are not average, femme. If you keep telling yourself you are, you will start to believe it." Starscream told her gently.

"Noah." she said, looking up at him.

Starscream frowned. "What?"

"My name is Noah. You can.. You can call me Noah." she said quietly.

Starscream watched her for a moment, then nodded. "Okay, Noah. Come on, I want to check on Breakdown and his team." he held out his hand for Noah to climb on.

Noah smiled and heaved herself up, glad that he hadn't just grabbed her this time. He walked out of his office and down the corridors of the Decepticon stronghold. He reached a large room that looked like it was used for meetings of some kind and set her on his shoulder so that he wouldn't have to walk around with his hand outstretched in front of him.

Noah clung to a ridge of metal on his neck as he continued forward, towards a huge door. It slid open as he reached it and Noah was almost blinded by the bright sunlight as it streamed through.

She winced and hid her face in Starscream's neck. "Gah! It's so bright!"

Starscream chuckled slightly at the human femme's squeamishness towards the bright light and walked outside.

All around looked like a desert. There was barren sand and a bright blue sky that seemed to stretch on for miles. "Where are we?" Noah asked, looking around at her surroundings.

"I cannot tell you." Starscream said, setting her down on the ground. "Wait here."

"Whoa, wait! What?" Noah asked, whirling around to see Starscream begin to transform. All his body parts completely shifted around until he became a jet and took off, heading west. "Where are you going?" Noah yelled after him, knowing perfectly well that she was not going to get an answer.

Noah growled in annoyance, sounding almost like Starscream. She giggled at the thought.

"What are you doing out here?" a pretty threatening voice called out.

Noah turned to see Barricade storming towards her. She yelped and turned to try and find somewhere to hide, but the land was bare for miles around. She turned back to Barricade just as he reached her. "Hey." she said sheepishly.

"What are you doing out here." he repeated, glaring at her.

Noah shrunk back. "Starscream left me here."

"What? Where did he go?" Barricade demanded.

"I don't know! I think Breakdown said something about an Autobot?" Noah said uncertainly.

Barricades eyebrows shot up. "Is that so.." he said slowly, looking around.

Noah nodded slowly. "Yeah."

Barricade looked at her suspiciously. "Where?"

"A few miles out? I'm not really sure." Noah said, shrugging.

"Hmm." he said, shifting into his alt mode.

"Wait! Can I come?" Noah asked, terrified of being left alone.

Barricade said nothing, but he didn't drive away without her, so Noah took his silence as consent. She hopped in the passenger seat and held on as his tires squealed and he tore away from the base and headed towards the battle.


	6. Chapter 6

**Hello! I'm back from Spain! Thank you to everyone who reviewed and read while I was away :) you guys are the best! And I'm really sorry that I can't reply to the people who reviewed with guest accounts. But anyway, here's chapter 6! enjoy, and please review! :)**

When Barricade squealed to a stop, the battle was already in full swing.

Starscream, Knock Out and Breakdown were fighting against three Autobots.

Barricade practically threw Noah out of himself and then transformed into his bipedal form, rushing off to engage the same yellow 'Bot that he had fought just a couple of days ago, who was getting the upper hand in Knock Out's fight.

Noah yelled in shock and sat up, rubbing her elbows where they had grazed the ground.

Starscream looked round at the sound of her shout and his optics widened when he saw her. His moment of distraction gave the small red Autobot he was fighting the chance to hit him hard in the head. Starscream went flying back and hit the ground heavily, skidding to a stop a couple of metres away from Noah.

Noah screamed and ran forwards. "Hey, are you alright?" she panicked, poking his shoulder plating.

Starscream groaned and sat up. "What are you doing here?" he demanded furiously. "I told you to stay put!"

"I asked Barricade to bring me." Noah said, noticing the red robot that Starscream had been fighting was advancing on them. "Uhh.. 'Scream? The robot is coming closer.."

"I know." Starscream said grimly. He stood up and glared at the Autobot, whose optics were trained on Noah.

Noah hid behind Starscream's foot, trying to hide from the Autobot's gaze. "'Screamy?" she called nervously.

"Back off, Autobot." he growled, shifting so that he blocked Noah from sight.

The Autobot tilted it's head. "Nah, I'm not goin' nowhere 'till you give me the girl." it said in a strange accent.

Starscream tensed. "I don't think so." he growled, picking Noah up and holding her close to him.

The red 'Bot raised its eyebrow-bars (I don't know what they're called.. A little help with that? :P) "Since when do you protect humans?"

Starscream just growled. His chassis opened up and Noah was overwhelmed with blue light. She blinked and tried to look at it properly, then she realised that Starscream was putting her in the compartment with the blue light. She clung to his fingers, scared of what was happening.

"Don't worry. You will be safe in here." Starscream promised quietly so the Autobot, who was advancing towards them, wouldn't hear.

Noah nodded nervously and allowed him to put her in the chamber as the metal slid shut again. The last thing she saw from outside was the Autobot leaping forwards with his gun trained at Starscream's head.

The compartment she was in was strange. It seemed dark and bright at the same time. There were dark shadows in the corners, and despite the fact that the bright blue orb was casting off a bright light and illuminating the chamber, it failed to chase away the shadows.

Noah moved closer to the steady glow of the blue light, feeling the heat radiate off it. She felt.. safe in here. And peaceful. It was easy to forget that there was a huge alien robot death match going on just outside.

Noah was seized by sudden anxiety. She desperately hoped that Starscream wouldn't be harmed. Who would be nice to her then? Would the Autobot's take her? She didn't want to go with them. What if they hurt her?

The bright light pulsed slightly, as if it could feel her fear. Noah shuffled closer to it yet again.

Outside, Starscream ducked a shot from the irritating Autobot and fired his plasma cannon at his chest. The Autobot flew threw the air and landed heavily. He wasn't offlined, but was injured badly.

Starscream stepped after him and raised his plasma cannon, just about to finish the job when a wave of anxiety wracked him. He frowned, immediately startled, and realised that it had come from the human girl he had placed in his spark chamber. It seemed that her being so close to his spark allowed him to sense how she was feeling.

Starscream's frown deepened. He couldn't figure out whether he was curious or repulsed by this. He came to his senses and looked down at the 'bot, who had stopped moving and had apparently slipped into stasis.

He stepped back and looked around, just in time to see a green Autobot that looked just like the red one come flying at him angrily. _Twins_, he realised.

Starscream stepped to the side, effectively dodging his attack. He then reached down and plucked out a few wires from the back of the green robots neck, completely paralysing him.

Something in Starscream seemed to recoil at the thought of putting these two meddlesome 'bots offline, and it took him a moment to realise it was the humans emotions. He sighed, but didn't harm them any further. They were both incapacitated anyway, and he had a feeling that if he did try anything further Noah would never talk to him again. He wasn't sure why this would bother him, he just knew that it would.

He looked around and saw Barricade ripping the arm off of the yellow scout (Bumblebee, he thought his name was), who let out a strange warble of pain.

"Barricade." he growled, storming up to him. "What the frag were you thinking?"

Barricade and Bumblebee looked up, Barricade with pure amusement in his face and Bumblebee with pain in his bright blue optics. Starscream felt a rush of pity, but ignored it, knowing that it was just the humans emotions.

Barricade frowned. "What do you mean?" he asked, returning to torturing the Autobot.

Starscream growled. "_Look at me when I am speaking to you_." he growled, his voice so deep it reverberated through him, causing him to feel Noah's anxiety levels spike. Barricade threw the yellow scout to the side.

"Why did you bring the human here?" Starscream demanded.

Inside the sparkchamber, Noah could hear him asking Barricade questions, clearly blaming Barricade for bringing her here. Noah stood up uncertainly. "Starscream? It wasn't Barricade's fault. I asked him to bring me." she called out, hoping he could hear her.

Starscream ignored the voice of the human echoing from his sparkchamber and to his processor as she called to him. "She could have been killed."

"So what? You could find another plaything." Barricade said callously.

A dangerous growl ripped through Starscream, making Noah whimper. He sounded.. primal.

Barricade backed away from him cautiously. "Okay.. Fine. You like that particular plaything. Whatever. It's only vermin."

Starscream opened his mouth furiously, but before any words could leave his mouth, Breakdown yelled "Prime!" and pointed out to the distance.

Starscream looked out and saw a blue and red semi-truck racing towards them. "Slag." he muttered, then raised his voice. "Retreat."

He swiftly turned into his alt mode, a fighter jet. He was careful to shift delicately, in such a way that Noah ended up in the pilot seat rather than crushed by shifting metal.

Noah gasped. "Holy shit. _Never _do that again. Or at least warn me next time!" she glared.

Starscream chuckled at her and took off. He watched her reaction; her eyes grew huge and she clutched his seat as they gained height and her ears popped.

Starscream shivered as her nails gently grazed the leather pilots seat. Noah gasped. "Oh my god. What's wrong? Why did you shake?"

"You.. You have to remember that this plane is me. So when you touch me, I feel it. Especially in certain places." he said through the radio.

"Oh." Noah blushed furiously. "Sorry. What was that place you put me in?" she asked, desperate to change the subject.

"My sparkchamber. It is place that keeps my spark hidden and safe." Starscream answered.

Noah frowned. "Your spark?" she asked curiously, shifting in her seat and leaning forward.

Starscream tried to ignore the fact that the human girl moving around inside his alt mode almost felt... pleasant. "My spark is my life force. Your heart is like a human version of a spark, although much weaker and more prone to defects."

Noah frowned. "You put me in a confined space with your _life force_?! What if I broke it?!" she asked hysterically.

Starscream chuckled, causing the cabin of the jet to vibrate slightly. "You could not have broken it." he assured her.

Noah was silent for a moment. "I felt you. When I was in your sparkchamber. It was like I could feel your emotions." she said quietly.

"That's not too surprising. You were beside my very being. My spark is essentially what makes me _me_. I could feel your emotions too. I suppose it must be a side effect of you being so close to it." Starscream said thoughtfully, then added "Hold on, we're landing."

Noah held onto Starscream's seat as he began the descent. When he was about two metres above the ground he transformed.

Noah squeaked as she found herself in Starscream's sparkchamber yet again. "Hey! I told you to warn me!" she yelled.

A chuckle reverberated throughout the chamber.

"Are you gonna let me out?" she called.

"I'm taking you to the medical bay." Starscream's voice came from around her.

She jumped. "Whoa! Where are you?"

That made Starscream snort. "You're inside me. You should know where I am."

"I mean your voice. Where's your voice coming from?" Noah rolled her eyes.

Starscream sighed. "I'm not about to explain my entire anatomy to you."

"Fine." Noah scowled.

Starscream said nothing, and Noah was beginning to get bored when she heard his voice again; only he wasn't talking to her, he was talking to Knock Out.

She couldn't distinguish his words, but a moment later the plates on his chest slid open.

Noah climbed forwards and sat at the edge of his chest, leaning back to avoid falling out. She could see Barricade and Breakdown sitting on what looked like huge Decepticon sized hospital beds while Knock Out seemed to be treating them, despite being fairly battered himself. All three were staring at her with expressions ranging from shock (Knock Out) to revulsion (Barricade).

"You had the fleshbag in your sparkchamber?" Barricade asked in disgust.

Starscream growled. "Where would you suggest I put her? I believe _you_ brought her to battle and then _left_ her. She could have been killed! One wrong step, and she's gone."

"Why does it matter? This planet is full of them!" Barricade exclaimed.

Noah grabbed on to the inside of Starscream's sparkchamber to prevent herself from falling to her death as Starscream leant forwards and hissed.

"Starscream!" Knock Out said sharply, optics on Noah, who was now clinging tightly as she hung over the edge of Starscream's chest plate.

Starscream glanced down and noticed Noah hanging. He brought his hand to her and scooped her up. "Sorry." he muttered quietly to her, glaring again at Barricade.

Noah shrugged and turned to face Barricade. "Hey Barricade- can I call you Barry?"

"Absolutely not." Barricade snarled.

"Okay, I'm gonna call you Barry. I'm going to ask you a question." Noah informed him.

Barricade growled. "Do not call me Barry. Ask your question. Quickly."

"What's interfacing?"

Barricade stopped moving. Knock Out and Breakdown burst out laughing and even Starscream sniggered at the look on Barricade's face.

Noah was grateful that Barricade had stopped trying to convince Starscream that she was completely useless, but she was beginning to worry that the mech had broken. "Is he okay?" she asked Starscream uncertainly.

Starscream smirked. "He's fine. Are you going to answer her question, Barricade?" he asked mockingly.

Barricade looked back to Noah, who smiled innocently at him. "Er.. Well. It's- when a.. it's none of your concern!" he growled furiously.

Noah tilted her head. "Why not? Is it bad?"

Barricade looked helpless. "It's- I never said that. It's just.. Don't you learn about this from your-" he hesitated as he looked up the right word. "Parents?"

Noah shook her head. "My moms dead. Haven't seen my dad in three years, and even back then we didn't talk much. He was always working."

Barricade kept his gaze on her for a second longer, before grunting and getting up. He walked past Starscream and the pair glared at each other, before his gaze dropped to Noah. He didn't glare at her, but he didn't exactly look friendly either. "Maybe _Master_ Starscream will explain some day." he said, before walking out of the med bay with Starscream's glare boring into his back.

"Well. That was intense." Breakdown commented.

Knock Out snorted. "Yeah. Okay, big guy. You're fine." he told Breakdown before turning to Starscream. "You want anything in particular?"

Starscream held Noah out in his hand. "Check to see if she has sustained any injuries."

Knock Out nodded once and held his hand out for her, but she turned to Starscream and scowled. "I didn't. I'm fine."

Starscream ignored her and dropped her in Knock Out's waiting palm. Noah's scowl deepened and she folded her arms sulkily.

Knock Out placed her on the table, and she felt a tingling feeling go through her. She yelped and jumped up.

Starscream was there in a flash. "What did you do?" he demanded, his optics looking over her swiftly for signs of bodily injury.

"Nothing. I just scanned her, and she clearly wasn't expecting it. It shouldn't have hurt." Knock Out held his hands up to his shoulders in a gesture if surrender.

"It didn't hurt, it just.. Scared me." Noah said, shivering.

Starscream frowned, but stepped back to allow Knock Out to do his job.

"How did Prime and the Autobots know where our base is?" Breakdown demanded.

Starscream heaved a robot version of a sigh and turned to face him. "I don't know. But we will find out."

"I bet there's a spy, someone on the inside that we would never suspect!"

Starscream rolled his optics. "I'll look into that. When you're done here, I want you to go and find Soundwave and get him to send one of his pets to find the Autobots."

Breakdown nodded. "Okay."

"You can go now." Knock Out called, looking up from his inspection of Noah. "You're fine."

Breakdown nodded and headed off. Knock Out turned back to Starscream. "She's fine too. You can take her back to her room."

Starscream nodded and picked her up, but she turned her head away sulkily. "What's wrong with you?"

"I told you there was nothing wrong with me and you didn't believe me, but when _he _tells you, you don't question it at all!" she said, clearly offended.

Starscream looked at Knock Out for help, but Knock Out just shrugged. "Women."

Starscream made the sighing noise again. "I'm.. sorry. It won't happen again..?"

Noah huffed. "Alright. You can take me back to my room. I've had enough excitement for one day."


	7. Chapter 7

It had been over a week since Noah had been brought to the Decepticon base, and she was currently sitting next to the enormous door of her cell with her knees tucked to her chest, listening to the two mechs outside her door.

They had been conversing outside for almost fifteen minutes now, sharing stories about a war. Some of the stories had made Noah shiver in horror, yet she couldn't stop listening.

One of the mechs was in the middle of a boastful account about how he had taken down twenty Autobots with nothing but a piece of string when Starscream's voice rang out. "Move. And what are you doing down here, Bonecrusher? You should be on patrol."

There was a murmured apology and sounds of retreating footsteps.

Noah tilted her head when she heard electronic beeping, then realised that it was Starscream entering the code into her door.

She leapt up just as the door opened and Starscream walked in. "Oh, hey Screamer."

Starscream narrowed his optics. "What were you doing?" he asked suspiciously, setting down a plate of food.

Noah smiled innocently. "I have no idea what you mean. Is that spaghetti?" she asked, bouncing towards the plate of food.

"You looked guilty when I walked in." Starscream said, closing the door behind him and sitting down as Noah began to eat. He had taken to spending long periods of time with her, under the pretense that he was interrogating her about information pertaining to the Autobot base.

"Did I? I don't think so. Maybe you imagined it." she suggested, taking a forkful of spaghetti and swallowing it whole.

Starscream frowned. "I didn't. You can tell me, you know."

"I was listening to their conversation." she admitted, pointing with her fork in the direction of the door. "They were talking about.. a war?"

Starscream closed his optics. "I see..." he said softly.

"Yeah. It sounded.. awful." Noah shuddered at the memory of the horrible stories the two Decepticons had told, causing Starscream to lean forwards in concern, uncertain of why her whole body had suddenly shaken. "After all that Megatron did.. You want to bring him back?"

Starscream looked away from her intense gaze. "I'm.. It is not my choice. All of the Decepticons are focused on bringing him back, and I must stand by their decision."

"Why? If you don't believe you should, you don't have to help." Noah said, pushing her food aside and walking closer to him, stopping and sitting down just in front of his leg.

"You wouldn't understand." Starscream growled, shaking his head.

"No, I probably wouldn't. I've never been part of a war, but it has still had an effect on my life." Noah said, looking down and beginning to draw patterns on Starscream's leg.

"What kind of effect?" he asked, his voice uncharacteristically soft.

Noah sighed and tilted her head back. "My dad would always be away. I hardly ever saw him. He would come back for maybe a week or two, but then would leave again. He's been involved in wars in Afghanistan, Libya, Iraq, Iran, Egypt.. You name it. I used to be terrified he wouldn't come home.."

"Used to be?" Starscream tilted his head curiously.

"Yeah. When my mom died he swore he'd spend more time with me, but then he got 'promoted'. He was away even more, and then he got sent to Qatar about two years ago, and was there when there was an attack or something. He survived and escaped with other survivors and they got picked up. He sent me an email saying he had gotten a place on a new team in Diego Garcia. That was the last time I heard from him. He didn't even call. The last time I saw him in person was three years ago." Noah felt her eyes beginning to sting, and she swiftly looked away. She felt.. lighter, somehow. She had never told anyone the whole story before.

Starscream lifted her chin up with the smallest finger on his massive hand as tears slid down her face. "You are experiencing ocular malfunction."

That made Noah smile through her tears. "It's not a malfunction. Humans do it when they're upset. It's called crying."

"Well, stop it. He is clearly not worth being upset over if he simply abandoned you." Starscream said, anger echoing in his voice.

Noah looked up at him and wiped away her tears, smiling softly. "He's still my dad. Despite everything.. I just want to know he's safe."

Starscream watched her as she lowered her head and wiped away the remaining tears on her face. "Humans seem to feel very strongly for their creators."

"He's the only family I have left except my aunt. She must be worried sick." she murmured, resting her head on her knees.

Starscream just stared at her, wishing he could comfort her in some way but not knowing how. Luckily, she raised her head and changed the subject. "You never answered me. Are you going to try and bring back Megatron?"

Starscream let out a robotic sigh. "Yes." he admitted. He found it excessively hard to lie to her and besides, she was just a human. It wasn't like she could do anything, even if she did know their plans.

Noah's gaze bore into him. "I see." she said quietly.

Starscream felt ashamed and opened his mouth to reply to her, but before he could say anything he tilted his head as though he were listening to something Noah could not hear.

Noah recognised the action immediately as him speaking through his comm link. He had done it a few times in her presence, and the way it worked fascinated her. "What's happening?" she asked as Starscream stood up.

"I have to go." he said shortly, turning and heading for the door.

"Screamer, wait-" she called running after him. "Please tell me what's happening. Is something wrong?"

Starscream hesitated as she caught up to him. "I will return shortly." he tried to assure her.

"Screamer! Just tell me where you're going!" Noah begged, titling her head right back in order to see him. "You know I hate being left alone.."

Starscream shook his head. "I will not be long. I must go now."

"But.. Why?" she asked, still confused.

"We are looking for something." was his answer, before turning and walking out the door.

Noah ran up to the door, but before she could run out it was shut. She hissed in annoyance and returned to sit on her bed.

She would have to wait 'till Starscream came back.

It was almost two days before Starscream came back.

Noah had been waiting impatiently for him to return so that she could question him on where he had been.

It was only when he walked into her cell that she realised that she had been worried for him. Her chest seemed to loosen slightly in relief when she saw that he was unharmed. "Where were you?" she asked, jumping up and running over to him immediately.

He looked faintly amused. "Away." he said vaguely, taking a seat on her floor.

"You said you would only be got for a little while!" Noah pouted.

"It was a little while." Starscream answered, tilting his head.

Noah folded her arms. "No, it was not! I thought you only meant a few hours!"

Starscream shuttered his optics. "Why do you care?"

"Because I'm afraid to be alone." Noah dropped her voice to a whisper.

Starscream's spark filled with pity. "I- I didn't realise that it affected you so much."

Noah shrugged and looked down. "So, are you going to tell me where you went?"

"To retrieve a sliver from the Allspark." Starscream answered.

Noah had eavesdropped on enough of her guards' conversations to know what he was talking about. "But- I thought it was destroyed?"

"It was, but it seems a sliver survived." he said, not sounding too happy about this fact.

"Oh. So.. What does that mean?" Noah asked, tilting her head curiously.

"It means that we can revive Lord Megatron." Starscream sighed.

"Oh. Oh." Noah frowned. "So.. You're going to revive Megatron?"

"It seems so." Starscream said, avoiding her eye.

"But.. That would be bad." Noah stated, watching Starscream closely.

He shifted. "For humankind, yes. For the Decepticons.. They believe he should return." he said, shrugging.

"But you don't think so." Noah said.

"I don't want him to return, for selfish reasons. If he were to come back, I would no longer be in charge." _And I wouldn't be able to keep you_, he added silently to himself.

"Oh. Well, there's also the whole 'harbinger of death' thing he's got going on.." Noah smiled slightly, trying to lighten the mood.

Starscream's mouth-plates actually cracked into a grin. "Yes, there's that too. We have one of Soundwave's pets going to retrieve the Cube shard right now."

"Huh." Noah said absently, resting her chin on Starscream's shin.

"So that means I.. I'm going to have to hide you." he said quietly.

Noah's head shot up to look at him. "Wait- what?"

"If Megatron finds you, he'll kill you. So I'm going to hide you." Starscream said simply.

"But- why don't you just let me go?" Noah asked, clutching the metal plate on his shin.

"No." Starscream said shortly. "Not an option."

"Why not? If it's too dangerous for me to be here, wouldn't it be safer for you to just drop me home?" she suggested hopefully.

"No! No, you're staying here." Starscream said adamantly.

Noah sighed. "Fine. How are you planning to get Megatron back, anyway? I thought his body was destroyed or something."

"Soundwave has tapped into all satellite signals around the world. He overheard some foolish government agents discussing the location of Megatron's remains. As it turns out, he is currently at the bottom of the place known as the Laurentian Abyss." Starscream said calmly.

"Oh. So you're going to go to the bottom of this abyss to find him?" Noah asked curiously.

Starscream nodded. "As soon as we get the Cube shard-" he broke off and tilted his head to the side, clearly using his comm link.

Noah said nothing, waiting for him to finish his silent conversation. Once he did, he stood up and picked her up.

"Whoa! What's going on?" Noah panicked, grabbing onto Starscream's huge thumb to stabilise herself.

"The other Decepticons have departed to retrieve Megatron." Starscream said shortly, pushing open the door and stomping down the halls.

"So- so where are you taking me?" asked, clutching tightly onto Starscream's hand.

"I don't know." he admitted. "Where can you go that you will be safe?"

"Home." Noah said instantly.

Starscream looked down at her as he reached the outside of the base. "Why do you insist on going home?"

"Because I want to go home." she said. As she said it, she began to wonder if that was true.

Starscream looked up to the sky. "Fine. But I will come back for you." he warned.

Noah smiled slightly. "Fine." she said quietly. She was okay with that.

Starscream's faceplates softened slightly at her. "Okay. If that's where you feel safest." he said, before setting her down on the ground.

He began his transformation with the usual grinding and clashing of metal, and Noah watched with mild awe.

The door to the cockpit swung open of its own accord, inviting Noah inside.

She smiled and climbed in carefully, sitting in the pilots seat. The seatbelt strapped itself around her on its own, making her gasp and clutch at it in a panic, having flashbacks of the last time a seat belt had held her in place.

"Calm down!" Starscream said as she began to struggle.

"Let me go!"

"It's only a seatbelt. You have to wear one in case you get hurt." Starscream assured her.

Noah's struggling ceased slightly. "Okay.." she said reluctantly, sitting back as he began the take off. "Where are you going after you take me home?"

Starscream said nothing until they were in the air. "Our ship, _The Nemesis_, crashed on the planet known as Mars. That is where I will be going."

Noah's ears popped painfully as they gained altitude, but she ignored it. "Really? You had a spaceship? That's so cool! And its on Mars..What's up there?" she asked curiously.

"Just the remains of our ship. It is where many of the Decepticons and the hatchlings live." Starscream answered, swerving to avoid a flock of birds.

"Hatchlings?" Noah leaned forwards, her curiosity growing.

"Yes. Younglings. But they are dying. And without a supply of energon, they will continue to die." Starscream answered absently. "Where exactly am I taking you?"

Noah blushed when she realised that she hadn't even told him where he was going. She told him her address and sat back.

After a couple of minutes, Starscream spoke again. "We're coming closer to you're home, but I can't see any suitable place to land. Will I just land in the street?"

"No!" Noah exclaimed. "Are you crazy?! I've been missing for a week and a half! If I just step out of a fighter jet in the middle of the street it'll look just a tad bit weird, don't you think?"

"Okay, calm down, calm down. Where do you suggest I land?"

"Umm.. There." Noah pointed to a clump of trees big enough to hide the jet.

Starscream obeyed and began the descent. Noah winced as her ears popped again. "My aunt is going to kill me."

Starscream tensed slightly. "I will not let her harm you."

Noah smiled. "I know. It's a figure of speech. She's going to be really angry at me because I never told her where I was going and never called or anything."

Starscream landed in the small clearing with a bump. "I see. Well, what are you going to tell her?" he asked, keeping the doors closed.

"Well I can't tell her the truth or she'll lock me up in an asylum or something. I'll tell her I went somewhere.. I'll make something up and go back to school like normal." she shrugged.

Starscream said nothing and opened the door so Noah could climb out. Once she jumped onto the ground he transformed, crouching slightly so he could stay out of sight beneath the trees. "I have to go now, but before I do you have to promise me something."

"Okay." Noah said, frowning slightly.

"You have to be careful. Megatron is planning to take over your world, and that includes enslaving the people. I'll come back and find you, but you have to promise me that you'll stay safe." he said, bending down towards her so they were almost nose to nose.

Noah looked at him with wide eyes. "Why do you care?" she whispered.

Starscream stared back at her, his blood red optics boring into her bright green eyes. "I don't know." he whispered back.

Noah gave him a small smile and stood on her toes, giving him a small kiss on his huge cheek.

Starscream straightened immediately, wiping his cheek and pretending to be displeased, but Noah could see the softness in his optics and the tiny smile on his face.

"Bye, Screamer." she said softly as he transformed down into jet mode.

"Goodbye, Noah." his voice came from the radio inside the jet, before he took off.

The blast of air had Noah's waist length hair blowing wildly around her face as she watched him take off. She watched him fly into the distance until he disappeared, then turned and began to walk home.


	8. Chapter 8

**Starswoop: thank you :) and he might.. Eventually :P **

**Oh, and by the way the Starscream I'm imagining in this story is the Starscream from Transformers: Prime :)**

Noah had been right.

When she walked through the door of her aunts house, her aunt had almost killed her. She was happy that Noah was unharmed and safe, but furious at the fact that she had disappeared without a trace.

After an hour and a half long lecture, lots of shouting and crying, and a phone call to the police to let them know that Noah had returned safely, her aunt had let her go to bed.

A soft knock at he bedroom door caused Noah to wake up from her light sleep and sit up as her aunt came into the room. "Aunt Amy? What's wrong?" she asked sleepily, glancing at the clock. "Ugh, it's one o'clock in the morning!"

Her aunt ignored her and sat on the edge of the bed. "Noah, honey, I need to know where you were."

Noah sighed and buried her face into her pillow. "I told you. I just needed space. I went off on my own for a while and hitchhiked home."

"Honey, if you needed space why didn't you tell me? I could have arranged for us to go on a holiday or something." Amy said, reaching out and tucking a piece of Noah's hair behind her ear.

"No. I had to be on my own." Noah said, shaking her head.

Her aunt sighed. "No', I know that we haven't spoken much about your dad since he left for his mission in Qatar, but I think we need to have a talk. You can't just go off on your own like that."

Noah looked away. "I don't want to talk about him."

"Come on, sweetie. He was a good soldier, and a good man-"

"If he was such a good man, why did he abandon me after mom died?" Noah snapped.

Amy fell silent and stared at her. Noah felt guilty immediately and looked away. "Noah.. He loves you." Amy said quietly.

"If he loved me so much then he wouldn't have left." Noah said, continuing to face the wall.

Amy sighed. "Noah... He's only doing his duty. He wants to come home-"

"How do you know? You haven't spoken to him for as long as me!"

"Yes, but he's your dad. " Amy said, as if that made up for everything.

Noah shook her head, fists clenched. "I'm tired. I think I'm going to sleep." she said, not meeting Amy's eyes.

Her aunt sighed. "Okay." she stood up and walked to the door. Just before she walked out, she glanced back. "By the way, you're grounded. For as long as I feel necessary. Never scare me like that again."

Noah forced a smile. "I won't. I'm sorry."

Her aunt gave her a smile before leaving her alone to sleep.

"Please, Aunt Amy?" Noah begged, leaning across the kitchen table.

"Noah. You're grounded." her aunt reminded her.

"I know, but it's only the library! What kind of trouble am I going to get into at the library?" Noah reasoned.

"The same kind of trouble you got in walking home from school." Amy shot back.

"I- okay, I'm sorry about disappearing like that. It's not going to happen again. I promise. I just want to go to the library." Noah pleaded.

Amy sighed and put her hands on her hips. "Fine. But you come straight back home. No stopping on the way there or back."

Noah's face split into a grin. "Thank you!" she jumped up and hugged her aunt.

Her aunt laughed. "Okay, okay. Just go on and hurry home."

Noah grinned and grabbed her bag. "I'll only be an hour." she called as she ran out the door. She smiled happily as she walked down the street towards the library. As she walked, she pulled her waist length hair into a ponytail.

She smiled at a man who was sitting on a bench as she walked into the library and headed straight for the Science Fiction section.

As she browsed through books she caught snatches of a semi-whispered argument and glanced over her shoulder to see three young people about a year or two older than her crouched in front of the banister.

She raised her eyebrows slightly and moved closer so she could see them properly.

"You know what? You can give me the silent treatment all you want, but you can't keep me from talking!" a pretty girl with black hair hissed at one of the boys beside her, who was looking away from her.

The boy looked back to her. "Okay, what were you going to say?" he whispered.

"I hope you had a lot of fun, because this-" the girl indicated the two of them, "This is over!"

The boy looked as though he were about to say something, but the other Hispanic looking boy leaned over and said something instead. Noah couldn't properly hear his sentence, just the words "nasty alien probe". She frowned slightly and moved closer, curious.

"What if there's an embryo and little alien babies are gestating and hatching inside of you? They're probably growing right now!" the boy panicked, while the other boy looked completely nauseous. "You gotta vomit it right now. Yak it! Yak it!"

The other boy paled, before leaning over and throwing up on the floor of the library, almost hitting Noah. She squealed and jumped back before she could get hit by the stream of sick. The boy looked up and apologised weakly, at the same time the dark haired girl looked at the second boy in mild disgust and said "Who are you?"

Noah didn't hear his answer as she leaned down and awkwardly patted the first boy's shoulder. "Are you okay?" she asked uncertainly, carefully avoiding the small pool of vomit at her feet.

The boy didn't get a chance to answer because at that moment the wall a couple of metres behind them exploded inwards, sending debris and shattered book shelves everywhere.

Noah screamed and jumped up in horror. The three teenagers in front of her leapt up and spun round. The boy who had gotten sick completely panicked and jumped off the balcony only to land on the hanging light. The other boy clambered over the railing and climbed down. the girl grabbed Noah's arm and followed the second boy, bringing Noah with her. "What's happening?" Noah shrieked, trying to pull away.

The girl just ran, dragging Noah to a small flight of stairs and flying down them.

Just as they reached the ground floor the boy who had been hanging on to the light fell, and landed right in front of them. "Run!" he yelled, standing up and running after them.

Noah glanced over her shoulder to see a robotic being that was the size and shape of a human, with tendril-like cables coming out of its head like hair. It was undoubtedly a Decepticon.

The Decepticon raised its arms, and Noah noticed the canons heating up on her/its arms. Clearly, the other teenagers noticed this too. They all dived under tables, Noah following the boy who had gotten sick (she wasn't entirely sure why she made that choice) and the girl and the boy that had been talking about aliens under another.

"Mikaela!" the boy beside Noah yelled at who she guessed was the girl.

There was a sudden boom as the Decepticon fired its canons, blasting straight through several bookshelves and causing books and wood splinters to fly everywhere.

Noah threw her arms over her head and shrank back, struggling to avoid the falling debris. The boy next to her did the same, and then grabbed her arm and pulled her out from under the desk as he crawled on his hands and knees through the mess of wood and paper. "Come on!" he encouraged as she struggled to crawl after him.

They joined the other two as another shot rang out, blasting more shelves and books into the air. All four of them had just reached a wall when the female Decepticon blasted a hole in it.

The boy grabbed Noah and the other girl, Mikaela, and escaped through the hole. The second boy followed, cursing quietly in Spanish.

Once they got outside the first boy grabbed Mikaela's hand and ran with her down the steps. Noah and the second boy followed, dodging the many people that were screaming and running for their lives.

Noah glanced over her shoulder to see a pretty blonde girl walking out of the chaos of the library and marching towards them.

"We gotta get that box." Mikaela called, changing course and running towards a medium sized metal box that looked as though it had been dropped by someone.

The first boy grabbed it as he ran, then turned and followed Mikaela over to a car.

Noah wasn't sure where to go, but the second boy grabbed her wrist and pulled her towards the car. They all got in and Mikaela pulled two wires out from underneath the dash board.

"You know how to hot-wire a car? That's so hot." the boy sitting in the back beside Noah said, gazing at Mikaela. Noah rolled her eyes and shoved the metal box that had been thrown beside her to the side so that she could sit more comfortably. She jumped when something inside the box screamed "Hey, let me out!"

"Drive, drive, drive! she's right there!" the boy in the passenger seat yelled, pointing out the windshield at the blonde girl walking straight for the car.

"Come on, come on." Mikaela kept muttering as she sparked the wires off each other.

The blonde girl leapt on the hood of the car and hissed. Her skin seemed to shift and fade away, until the Decepticon female was in her place.

Noah screamed as the Decepticon drew back her fist and punched the windshield, causing huge cracks to spiderweb outwards. What looked like its tongue came through the hole in the glass and came straight towards Mikaela's boyfriend, who began screaming in panic.

The car shot forwards suddenly, and the Decepticon female hung on desperately. Mikaela's boyfriend started trying to smack it away as it came down beside his window and tried to attack him through it. It kept screeching loudly, until it fell back onto the bonnet of the car.

"Kiss this, bitch." Mikaela said furiously, before driving straight into a street lamp.

Noah's head shot straight forwards and hit the seat in front of her on impact, and she could vaguely hear the dying screech of the female Decepticon. "Ow." she muttered, rubbing her forehead and wincing.

"You okay?" the Hispanic boy beside her asked as Mikaela reversed the car back and ran over the robot again.

"Yeah." Noah answered absently, trying to glance behind her to see where if the robot was dead.

The boy then leaned forwards so he could talk to the teens in he front of the car. "Okay, so what else don't I know? Considering you guys sorta left out some minor details!" he yelled.

The first boy turned his head. "That thing you saw back there? That was only a- whoa!" he screamed as a helicopter came almost directly above them.

Noah paled slightly as she saw the helicopter. She recognised it.

Mikaela swerved desperately to try and get rid of the helicopter, but a huge claw came straight through the roof of the car

"Oh my god! Oh my god!" the Hispanic boy next to Noah screamed.

A car smashed into them just as Blackout began to pull them up, and the boy in the passenger seat fell out the broken door.

"SAM!" Mikaela screamed in panic as he held on for dear life onto the door.

They were lifted higher and higher, and Sam still hung on desperately. Mikaela kept screaming his name and leaning forwards with her hand outstretched, and the boy in the back with Noah had his hand out the window to try and reach Sam too.

The entire car was tilted forwards, and Noah realised that Blackout was taking them somewhere. Why were the Decepticons after these teenagers? Mikaela managed to grab Sam's hand and pull him back into the car, where he resumed screaming.

Noah looked down and saw that they were positioned directly over an abandoned warehouse.

"Oh god. Aunt Amy's gonna kill me." she whispered, just as the claw let go and the car fell straight towards the roof of the warehouse.


	9. Chapter 9

**Ughhhhhh I am SOOOO annoyed at myself :( I uploaded the wrong chapter :/ I am sooo sorry! I'm so stupid. Here's the real one :/ thank you for telling me you guys.. So anyway, please review and everything :)**

It was hard to tell who screamed the loudest as the car fell in what seemed like slow motion towards the roof of the warehouse, but the two boys seemed equally matched.

The car fell straight towards the warehouse and crashed through the roof, smashing the ceiling through. The tip of the bonnet hit the floor hard, and the entire car tipped over onto its roof. Noah became aware that she was clutching the boy next to hers hand very tightly, but she didn't remember grabbing it.

She relinquished it immediately, and not a moment too soon as a huge circular buzz saw ripped the car in half.

Noah screamed as the half she and Sam were in tilted sideways and fell.

"Oh jeez, oh jeez!" Sam jumped out of the car-half.

Noah climbed out after him, feeling dazed, and had to grab onto the back of his shirt to prevent herself from falling over. Sam reached behind him and used his hand to steady her while moving to the side slowly at the same time.

Noah looked up confusedly and froze as she saw Starscream bending down and examining Sam. He didn't even seem to notice her as she was hiding behind Sam's back. There was a slightly disgusted look on Starscream's face that she had never seen before.

"Come here, boy." a deep voice growled from behind them. Noah turned her head and stiffened in terror.

Another Decepticon's head was looking down at all of the humans, mouth upturned in disgust.

Sam raised his hands to his shoulders and edged towards the new Decepticon slowly. By the air of power he was exuding and the way Sam was acting, Noah guessed that this new Decepticon must be Megatron.

The sound of air hissing through vents made her turn her head, and she locked gazes with Starscream, who was staring at her in shock with wide optics. Noah smiled sheepishly at him, but then a loud yell from Sam made her jump and spin round in time to see him flying through the air with Megatron grinning sadistically at him.

Mikaela and the Hispanic boy crept closer to the edge of the platform to look down at Sam and Megatron.

Noah took a step towards them, but stopped as Starscream bent down so that his face was level with hers.

"What are you doing here?" he hissed quietly, looking furious.

Noah glanced at the other teens, but they were too distracted by whatever was happening to Sam down below. "I wasn't exactly planning on coming here! I was dragged in a car by them-" Noah gestured at the other kids, "And then the car was lifted by Blackout! And he _dropped_ us here!"

Starscream scowled. "We had to get the Witwicky boy. How was I supposed to know you were in the car?"

Noah opened her mouth to retort, but was cut off by Sam's yells. She winced slightly and gazed up at Starscream. "Screamer, can't you make him stop? Sam didn't do anything wrong!" she hissed at him.

Starscream looked away from her, his gaze shifting to where Megatron was visible, grinning at something Noah couldn't see. "No. It's out of my hands." he murmured.

Another yell came from Sam just as the ceiling exploded inwards and a new robot fell through the roof, twisting gracefully as it did so. He unsheathed a huge blade and swung at Megatron, who leapt back and began to shoot at him.

Noah yelped in shock as the wall nearest to her also broke in, and the yellow 'bot that Barricade had fought almost two weeks before burst in. She tried to run to Starscream, but someone grabbed her hand and began running with her. "Wh- stop! _Stop_!" she yelled, trying to pull her arm put of Mikaela's grip.

Mikaela just pulled harder. "We've got to go!" she shouted at Noah, and when she didn't cease her struggling she looked pointedly at the Hispanic boy.

He stepped forwards and wrapped his hands around her waist, before picking her up and throwing her over his shoulder.

Noah screamed in outrage and pummelled his back, but she was completely ignored. "You can't do this! Put me down! I don't want to go! _Starscream_!" the last part was screamed.

Starscream glanced around from where he had been shooting at the yellow Autobot and his optics grew dark when he saw Noah being carried away from him by the human male. He growled and started towards them.

Mikaela and the boy both screamed when they realised Starscream was headed for them. "Get outside!" Mikaela yelled to the boy, who nodded and began running toward the door.

"He's not going to hurt you!" Noah struggled against the boys grip, but he tightened his hold on her waist.

"Are you crazy?! He's a giant robot death machine with glowing red eyes who's heading straight for us and you're trying to convince us to stick around?" he yelled at her.

Starscream's hand reached out, mere inches from touching them. Just as Noah stretched her own hand towards him there was a firing noise and Starscream's face contorted in annoyance and pain. He whirled around to face the yellow Autobot that was shooting at him to try and prevent him from reaching the humans. Starscream growled and opened fire back at him.

Noah craned her neck to try and see more, hoping anxiously that Screamer wouldn't be hurt.

They reached the doors and burst out, blinking quickly in the sunlight as their eyes struggled to adjust after the gloom.

Noah resumed punching the boys back. "Will you put me down?!"

"I just saved your ass! You could at least thank me!" he yelled back, keeping his hold on her.

"_Thank_ you? For what?! I told you I didn't want to leave!"

Mikaela turned to face her. "Why the hell would you want to stay?"

Noah opened her mouth, unsure of how to answer. Luckily, she was saved from having to answer as the yellow Autobot rolled up in the form of a familiar yellow Camaro.

Unluckily, she was thrown into the back seat by the boy and the seat belts locked themselves around her; effectively preventing her escape.

She turned in her seat to stare out the rear window as the car revved and sped off.

"Where's Sam?" Mikaela breathlessly asked the car.

"The last anybody heard/ gone with the wind/ with the big boss." a collection of random news clips and movie scenes came out of the radio.

"He's gone with Optimus?" Mikaela translated.

"Who's Optimus?" the boy asked the same question Noah was thinking.

"Optimus Prime. He's the leader of the Autobots; they're the good guys."

Noah had to bite her lip to prevent herself from objecting to that while inside an Autobot.

"Who - who were those guys?" the boy asked, jerking his thumb over his shoulder.

"Decepticons." Mikaela's voice was full of loathing. "They're real dickheads. About as evil as you can get."

At this point Noah was biting on her tongue hard enough to draw blood.

"Huh." the boy said thoughtfully, before turning in the front seat to face Noah. "And who are you?"

Noah blinked as Mikaela turned to face her too. The cogs in her brain worked overtime to try and come up with a suitable answer. "Uhhh... I'm Noah..?" she winced internally.

"I'm Leo. But I meant where do you fit into all this alien stuff." Leo frowned slightly.

"Oh, right." Noah nodded.

There was silence for a long moment.

"So are you going to answer..?" Mikaela prodded.

"Probably not."

Mikaela and Leo frowned, but before try could question her any further the car skidded to a halt in a small forest.

The door closest to Noah flung open and Sam jumped in, flinging his body over her lap.

"Whoa!" she yelped as he scrambled to close the door.

"Drive, Bee!" he yelled, clearly panicking.

"Bee" pulled away and revved again, tearing away so fast he left marks on the grass.

Noah turned to look back, watching as more Autobots spilled down a hill, yelling and shooting at Decepticons. Noah's searching eyes found Starscream almost immediately; he was missing an arm, but was still shooting valiantly.

His optics locked onto her and he began to try and go after the Camaro, but one bulky black Autobot stopped him by shooting at his face, only very narrowly missing.

Starscream hissed and glared at him, shooting at his head in retaliation.

In the car, Mikaela was demanding to know what was wrong with Sam, who was staring blankly out the window.

"He's dead." he mumbled emotionlessly.

Mikaela frowned. "What?"

"OPTIMUS IS DEAD!" he yelled, banging his fist against his knee, making Noah jump. "And it's all my fault."

He buried his head in his hands. Noah glanced helplessly at Mikaela, before awkwardly petting his shoulder in a comforting manner. "Hey, it's alright. It's okay."

Sam shook his head. "No, it's not!"

Noah continued petting his shoulder. "The night is always darkest before the dawn."

"What does that even mean?" Sam asked despairingly.

Noah shrugged. "Harvey Dent said it in _Batman_."

Leo snickered and Mikaela rolled her eyes, but Bee's radio flickered to life. "The night is always darkest just before the dawn. And I promise you; the dawn is coming." came Harvey Dent's voice from the speaker.

Noah's face split into a grin. "That is so cool."

Leo frowned. "Didn't Harvey Dent turn out to be a mass murdering schizophrenic who based all his choices on the flip of a coin?"

Sam groaned and buried his head in his hands again.

"Oh, that was smooth!" Noah hissed at him.

Leo held up his hands in a "what did I do?" gesture.

"I don't think things are ever going to get better. Not without Optimus." Sam murmured.

There was total silence throughout the car.

Noah turned and gazed out the window, noticing a green Chevy Beat and a red Chevy Trax driving alongside them. Two other Autobots, no doubt.

She sighed and closed her eyes. 'I miss Starscream.' she thought vaguely before dropping off to sleep.

**hehehe... sorry, i couldnt help the batman quote :P so, you know the usual : review please!**


	10. Chapter 10

When Noah woke up she realized she was still in the back seat of the Autobot called 'Bumblebee', but there was no one else there with her.  
She yawned sleepily and edged towards the door. Stepping out, she looked around.  
A red and a green Autobot were talking animatedly at a wall, but stopped and stared at her once she got out of the car.  
"Um.. Hi." Noah said nervously.  
The red one one nudged his companion. "That her?"  
The green one leaned closer to her. "Yup. That's her." he confirmed, nodding.  
Noah blinked at them. "What?"  
"You the human that Starscreech beat Mudflap's ass to protect." the green one clarified.  
The red one, Mudflap, hit the green one upside the head. "It's Starscream, stupid! And he whupped your ass first!"  
"Did not!" the green one pushed Mudflap, who retaliated by punching him in the face.  
Noah took several steps back to get out of the way as the two 'bots began to roll around, punching and kicking each other. Her eyes widened suddenly when she realized that these were the two small Autobot twins that had been fighting the Decepticons the time Barricade had brought her to the battle.  
The familiar sound of an alien robot transforming caught her attention, and she turned her head to see Bumblebee step forwards and pick each twin by the necks and then bang their heads together, hard.  
"Owww! Bumblebee! Not cool man." Mudflap complained as Bumblebee tossed them both to the side.  
Noah barely suppressed a giggle. "Nice throw." she said quietly, not really intending anyone to hear, but Bumblebee turned and grinned at her.  
Mudflap and his twin skulked back to the wall. Noah grinned at them and turned back to Bumblebee, who transformed back into Camaro form. She leaned against the bonnet slightly; the warm metal was comforting to her.  
The sounds of two voices arguing drifted out of a small alley, and Sam walked out, looking annoyed and stressed, followed by Leo. Noah didn't miss the evil expressions on the twins' faces when they saw Leo.  
"-a hostage! This is kidnapping! Enough is-" he broke off and jumped as both twins loomed into his view. "These things are gonna give me a heart attack, I swear."  
"That's cause you's a wuss." Mudflap grinned.  
"You technically forced me into that car-" Leo continued on as if Mudflap had never spoken.  
"Oooh, I think he's scared." Skids snickered. "Yo, Mudflap. What we gonna do with this shrimp taco?"  
"We should just pop a cap in his ass an throw him in the trunk and then that way no one's gonna know nothin'."  
"Not my trunk."  
Leo was not impressed. "Yo, bumper cars! Check it out, I'm hearing you! I'm right here, and I'm hearing you! No ones popping any caps in any asses! I've had a hell of a day!" he turned back around to Sam, who was watching the whole thing with a mildly bemused expression. He completely ignored both Mudflap and Skids as they made faces behind his back.  
"Why don't you get a haircut with yo' bitch ass? Go whine to yo' boyfriend!"  
Leo sighed as he faced Sam. "Look Sam, I know what I'm gonna do man. I'm just gonna go to the authorities and tell them the truth. Like, I had nothing to do with this-"  
"Hey, hey!" Sam turned around angrily. "This is what you wanted! This is the real deal! You wanna run? Go ahead! No ones stopping you! Stop complaining."  
There was an awkward silence that seemed to stretch as Sam walked away, probably to find Mikaela, and Bumblebee followed behind him.  
Leo sighed and put his head in his hands, sitting down heavily on an old wall. "Odio mi vida." he murmured quietly.  
Noah walked towards him slowly, before sitting hesitantly beside him. "He just lost someone. He's obviously stressed enough as it is.."  
"I know, it's just- I never wanted this! I mean I wanted it, but not like this! I wanted to meet aliens, but not stupid ones like Tweedle Dumb and Tweedle Dumber over there." Leo jerked his thumb over his shoulder.  
"Heeey, I resent that!" Skids yelled back.  
Noah's lips quirked up slightly. "Yeah.. I wasn't exactly planning on getting kidnapped again, either."  
"Again?"  
Noah stiffened slightly as she realized her mistake. "Ummm.." One pair of deep brown eyes and two pairs of bright blue optics were now trained on her, waiting for her answer.  
"I told you she was her." Mudflap muttered.  
"That her could have been any she, doesn't mean it was this one." Skids argued.  
Leo scowled at them. "Will you shut up?" he turned back to face her and his voice softened, "Go on."  
"Ummm... I- I'd rather not talk about it.."  
"Damn. Stupid-ass 'cons did nasty things to li'l lady!" Skids growled.  
"Wh- no! No, they didn't! I'm fine! See?" Noah flapped her arms around.  
Leo frowned. "'Cons'? As in Decepticons? Shit, are you okay?"  
"Yes, I'm fine! Do I look that bad?"  
"No! No! You look absolutely fine-" he was cut off by Mudflap and Skids snickering behind him. "Not that kind of fine!"  
Noah blushed and looked away, but Leo took this the wrong way. "No, not that you're not fine! I mean you're beautiful! Not that I feel attracted to you- well, I do but I don't mean-"  
At this point Mudflap and Skids were laughing so hard wires were sparking, and Noah's face seemed to have created a new shade of red.  
"Maybe we should find Sam and Mikaela." Noah said, standing up quickly.  
"Yeah. Yes! Absolutely. I agree." Leo said immediately, standing up so quickly he almost fell over.  
Noah shook her head and walked quickly to where Sam had last gone. It was what looked like a very overgrown abandoned garden; Mikaela, Sam and Bumblebee were settled around a campfire.  
Noah sat next to Bumblebee and leaned against his tire. She had become so accustomed to Cybertronian presences that it didn't matter what faction they were in; their very being there relaxed her.  
Sam and Mikaela were murmuring together with Bee putting in the odd jumbled sentence, so she didn't disturb them. She glanced around to see where Leo was, but all she saw was Mudflap and Skids were leaning against each other. She frowned and opened her mouth to ask where Leo had gone, but before she could say anything Sam had jumped up.  
"Hey, you two!" he yelled.  
"Huh?" they both looked round.  
"You know the glyphs? The symbols in my head? These-" he pulled up his shirt sleeve to show a weird symbol drawn in what looked like magic marker.  
"Oh. That's old school, yo. Like, thats uh.. Thats Cybertronian." Skids nodded.  
"Oh, that's some serious stuff." Mudflap chimed in.  
"Well it's gotta mean something! Like- like a message! Or a map! A map to an energon source! Can you read it?"  
"Read?" Mudflap sounded confused. "No, uh.. We don't really do much readin'."  
"Well if you can't read it then we have to find someone who can." Sam said, clearly frustrated.  
"Well, look who came sashaying back." Skids said suddenly.  
Noah glanced around to see Leo edging around the two bots. He blushed when he made eye contact with her and quickly turned to look at Sam. "Okay, I know I had a bit of a mild panic attack earlier-"  
"That's cause you's a pussy." Mudflap interrupted.  
"But I think I'm allowed that, considering what I've been through. I heard you had a problem. I think I know someone who can help." Leo continued as though he hadn't heard Mudflap's comment.  
"Who?" Sam scoffed.  
"Robowarrior." Leo said, perfectly serious.  
Noah snickered, and stopped the minute everyone turned their gazes on her. "Oh.. You're being serious."  
Leo frowned. "Yeah. He has his own website filled with pretty much everything alien. It's pretty impressive." he grumbled. "If anyone knows anything, he does."  
Sam nodded slowly. "Makes sense, I guess. Right. We'll find him in the morning."  
Noah nodded. She wasn't feeling overly tired, but all she wanted to do was relax. "Where will we sleep?"  
Sam glanced at Mikaela. "Me and Mikaela will share Bee. You and Leo can-"  
"Whoa, hold on now! I don't think Leo should be near li'l lady at night time." Skids put his hands on his hips. "Just in case he gets that urge. You's know what I'm talkin' 'bout."  
Leo spluttered and Noah blushed furiously as Sam snorted.  
"Li'l lady can recharge in me." Mudflap volunteered.  
"Wha-? No! I want li'l lady! You can have Leo!"  
"No way! Li'l lady smells nicer!"  
Noah had to scurry out of the way as they began another one of their wrestling matches.  
After a few minutes, Bumblebee transformed out of vehicular mode and caught them by the scruffs of their necks, before banging them off each other. He then pointed angrily at first Mudflap, then me and then did the same with Skids and Leo.  
The twins both transformed down; Mudflap smirking and Skids grumbling.  
"I'm not that bad." Leo muttered before climbing into the little green car.  
Noah smiled slightly before getting into Mudflap. She curled up in the back seat and sighed. The seats conformed around her body. "Thanks, 'Flap." she smiled.  
"No problem, li'l lady. You have a nice recharge."  
Noah smiled again, and was asleep in minutes.


	11. Chapter 11

"Yo, kid. Hey. Hell-oo. Wake up."

Mudflap's voice slowly pulled Noah out of her deep sleep and she groaned. "Shhhhh..." she mumbled, turning over to a more comfortable position on Mudflap's seats.

"C'mon. Yo' designation's Noah, right? Wake up, li'l Noah."

"Shut up." she sighed, flapping a hand sleepily in the direction of the dashboard. "Ten more minutes."

Mudflap vented through the air conditioning ducts. "I'm gon'have tah get someone tah pull ya out o' me." he warned.

"Mhm."

Noah had almost fallen back to sleep when Mudflap's door opened and Leo popped his head in. "Hey, chica. You awake?"

"No." she mumbled, her voice muffled by Mudflap's seats.

Leo chuckled. "C'mon, Sleeping Beauty. Wakey wakey."

"Go away." she moaned.

"You are not a morning person, are you?" he grinned.

Noah growled in response, and Mudflap chuckled. "Whoa, chill li'l lady. We's just tryin' tah find this guy that Mr. Pussy here's been talkin' 'bout."

Leo scowled. "His name is Robowarrior."

Noah sighed and sat up slowly, wincing as several bones cracked when she moved. "Alright." she sighed.

"C'mon." Leo straightened up.

Noah groaned loudly and flopped face-first back onto Mudflap's seats. "I have to MOVE?!"

Leo sighed. "Fine." he muttered, stepping forwards. He slid his arms around her waist and pulled her closer, ignoring her yelp of protest. He then slipped one arm under her knees and kept the other around her lower back. He picked her up and carried her bridal style over to Bumblebee, where Sam raised an eyebrow and smirked.

"Shut up." Noah glared at him, which only made his smirk grow bigger.

Bumblebee's back door opened by itself, and Leo gently deposited Noah in the back seat. She smacked his hands away and glared at him.

"Are we going now?" Leo turned to Sam, who nodded grimly.

"Best we get going early. Bee traced the 'Robowarrior' website and the signal led to someplace in some town nearby. It's gonna take at least two hours to get there."

Noah slumped in her seat. "Perfect."

Leo grinned and slid in next to her. "Look on the bright side, princess. You'll be next me, right?"

"Don't make me call the twins to kick your ass." she warned, scowling at him.

He seemed to take the threat of the twins very seriously as he blanched and backed away.

Sam snickered as he slid into the drivers seat next to Mikaela.

Bumblebee started his engine and drove away, kicking up dust in his wake

It was two hours and fifteen minutes before they reached the town the websites signal had come from.

Noah had fallen back to sleep almost the minute Bumblebee had gotten on the freeway, and when she woke she realised that she had been using Leo's shoulder as a pillow. Not that he minded at all, but it was kind of embarrassing for her.

"Sorry." she muttered, blushing.

"It's okay." Leo said, sounding extremely pleased. "Come on. Me and you are going in first, to find Robowarrior. Sam and Mikaela are gonna come in behind us."

Noah nodded. "Okay. So, are we there?"

"Yep." Leo leapt out of the car.

Sam, Mikaela and Noah followed him out. Noah groaned slightly as she stretched.

Mudflap and Skids drove up behind Bumblebee, trying to blend in; it wasn't working though, because they kept hitting each other with their doors.

Noah shot them a glare and they stopped for half a minute before starting again.

"This is it." Sam said, glancing up at a building in front of them.

"Yep. Deli. Good front." Leo said approvingly before turning to face Sam and Mikaela. "Okay, so me and Noah will go ahead. You wait here 'till I give you the go signal, right?"Sam and Mikaela nodded.

Leo grabbed Noah's hand, then promptly released it as she scowled at him. "Wh- it'll look more convincing if we pretend to be a couple!" he insisted.

"How?" Noah asked disbelievingly as they walked into the deli.

"It'll look more normal!" he took her hand again, smiling hugely when she didn't pull away.

Noah just gave in and sighed. "Fine." she rolled her eyes.

Leo turned his attention back to the task at hand. The deli was moderately busy, people standing around and waiting for their orders. Behind the counter, a middle aged man was arguing with a woman that looked like his mother. "I'm like a ninja with a blade!" he yelled after her as she walked away.

Noah snickered and Leo smiled slightly. "You have a nice laugh." he told her quietly.

She blinked in surprise before blushing and turning back to the man behind the counter, who was currently slapping an old mans hand away from a plate of food.

Leo stepped in front of the old man, and the guy behind the counter raised and eyebrow at him. "Take a number young man." he said firmly, turning away.

"Robowarrior." Leo said confidently. His hand tightened reflexively around Noah's. The guy behind the counter froze and Leo stepped forwards, raising an eyebrow. "Know him?"

"Never heard of him in my life." the guy growled, beginning to walk to the other end of the shop.

"Oh really? So you've never hear of ?" Leo followed him, dragging Noah with him.

"Oh, you must mean that amateur blog operation with game-boy level security!" the man turned to scowl at them.

Leo glared furiously. "Robowarrior!" he growled.

The bell over the front door rang as Sam came into the shop, a cap on his head and his hood pulled up. Leo started bouncing and pointing at the man. "It's him! It's him! That's Robowarrior!"

Sam turned to look at the man at the same time the man raised his head to look at Sam. "No." the man said disbelievingly.

"You've got to be kidding me." Sam groaned.

Noah raised her eyebrows. "Do they know each other?" she whispered to Leo.

Leo just blinked as 'Robowarrior' started herding people out of the shop, yelling that it was closed. After he had shut the door on the last irate customer he turned back to them.

"Wait a minute. You know this guy?!" Leo finally got his senses back.

"We're old friends." Sam said dryly.

"Old friends." the man scoffed, before stepping up into Sam's face. "You're the case that shut down Sector Seven! No more security clearance, no retirement, no nothing! All because of you, and your little criminal girlfriend." he turned his gaze on Mikaela, looking her up and down. "Look at her now, so mature."

"Moron!" a shout came from the back of the shop. "Wheres the whitefish?!"

The man sighed and started yelling down the back of the shop to where two workers were arguing.

"This is my archenemy?" Leo sounded disappointed.

Noah patted his arm and grinned. "Well. It says a lot about you."

Leo just scowled. Mikaela raised an eyebrow at the man before her. "You still live with your momma?"

The mans eyes narrowed. "No, my momma lives with me. Big difference. You know they got your face all over the news, alien boy?" he demanded of Sam.

"Yeah, I know." Sam glanced at the TV in corner.

"And NBE-1 is still kickin', huh? How did that happen? No, don't tell me! I don't know what you're hiding but I don't want anything to do with you! So goodbye, so long, get out of here."

"Wait, can you give me five seconds?" Sam hurried after him as he walked away.

"Who is this guy?" Noah asked Mikaela with her eyebrows raised.

Mikaela shook her head. "His name's Simmons. He used to work with Sector Seven in the government but we got that closed down and now he's being a hardass about it."

"Oh." Noah said absently, glancing back over at Sam as he said something quietly to Simmons, whose eyes widened.

"Meat locker, now!" he yelled, turning and almost sprinting to the back of the shop.

Noah followed reluctantly behind Leo, wincing away from the dead pig carcasses hanging from hooks around the locker.

"Dead pigs." Sam muttered, following Simmons as he crouched down next to what looked like a trap door.

"Yuck." Mikaela wrinkled her nose.

Simmons turned and looked up at us sternly. "What you're about to see is top secret. Do not tell my mother."

Noah smirked slightly, then her eyes widened as Simmons pulled up the trap door and climbed down a ladder, into a huge room full of books and research. "You're kidding me. He has a trap door in a meat locker full of dead pigs?"

"Awesome." Leo whispered, following Sam and Mikaela down the ladder.

Noah sighed when she realised that she had no real choice other then to follow them down, so she began climbing down.


	12. Chapter 12

When Noah reached the bottom of the ladder everyone was already gathered around a table.

Simmons was excitedly holding up pictures of a stagecoach and an old plane and saying something about 'robots in disguise'.

Noah glanced at Leo and Sam, who were both leaning eagerly forwards and listening intently to Simmons.

"All these symbols point to one thing; these 'transformers' have been here a long time." he was saying.

A Cybertronian head in a case caught Noah's attention, and she walked over to look at it closely. It was small, almost human-sized. Noah reached out to touch the case, but someone wrapped their fingers gently around her hand.

She glanced up to see Leo shaking his head slightly. "Radioactive." he whispered without letting go of her hand.

"Oh." Noah mumbled, stepping away from the head. "You can let go of my hand now."

Leo shot her a grin. "No thanks."

Noah rolled her eyes and pulled her hand out of his grip.

Simmons and Sam had continued their conversation, not even glancing around. "Have you talked to your Autobot friends about this?"

Sam shook his head. "No. No whatever this is, it predates them. It's before them."

"It's before them." Simmons repeated. "Well then we're porked. Unless we can talk to a Decepticon." Noah's head shot up, thinking of Starscream. Simmons continued, seemingly to himself. "I'm not exactly on speaking terms with one."

Noah considered telling them about Starscream, but Mikaela beat her to saying anything. "Actually, I am."

Everyone turned to look at her in surprise. "What?" Sam asked.

"Hang on, I'll get him. Noah, will you come with me?" Mikaela asked, heading back for the ladder.

Noah nodded and followed her up the ladder and back into the deli shop. "Where are we going?" she asked curiously as they stepped out onto the sidewalk.

"To get my freaky friend." she grinned and opened Bumblebees trunk. There was a silver metal box inside, shaking slightly as though something was kicking it from the inside.

"No way." Noah stared wide-eyed at the box. "You have a Decepticon in that little box?"

"Well, it's a little Decepticon." Mikaela laughed and headed back inside.

Noah followed, her eyes still fixed on the box. The Decepticon inside was now screaming 'let me out!'.

When they got back into the secret cellar, Mikaela dropped the box on the table. "This could be a little sad." she warned.

"Open it." Sam said, edging around the table.

Mikaela obeyed, flipping open the catch. The lid popped open and a very small Decepticon burst out, yelling a battle cry. It was attached to a leash, and Mikaela pulled on it quickly to stop him from hitting Sam. Noah felt her heart pull in pity for the little guy.

"I'm gonna have so many Decepticons on your butts-!" he was yelling, brandishing his tiny fists.

Leo yelped and jumped behind Noah, holding her close.

"Hey!" Mikaela yelled, holding a blowtorch near the little robot. "Behave!"

"Wha- is that a Decepticon?" Sam asked warily, edging slowly closer.

"Yeah. Mikaela sighed, lowering the blowtorch when the little guy made no move to attack again.

"And your training it?"

"Trying to."

Simmons was just staring at the new little 'con. "I've spent my whole adult life combing this planet for aliens, and you're carrying one around in your purse like a chihuahua."

The little 'con stopped trying to chew through the metal chain-link leash and straightened, turning to face Simmons. "Huh? Wanna throw down, you pubic 'fro-head?" he challenged furiously.

A little giggle escaped Noah, and she covered her mouth with her hand in an attempt to cover it up. Mikaela ignored her and leaned forwards, smiling sweetly. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry about your eye. But I'll tell you what; if you're a good boy, I'm not gonna torch your other eye. I'm not gonna torch it. Just tell us what these symbols are. Please."

The little robot glanced down at the sheets of paper beneath him, and bent on one knee to have a closer look. "Oh, I know this. This is the language of the Primes! I don't read it, but these guys.. Where the frick did you find photos of these guys?"

"Is this them?" Sam asked, holding up the photo of the stagecoach.

"Yeah! They're ancient! Oldest of the old. They've been here for thousands of years, lookin' for something. I don't know what, nobody tells me nothing. Oh, they'll translate that for ya. And I know where to find them." he smiled, clapping his tiny hands together.

"Show us." Simmons instructed.

"Yeah." the 'con cracked his little robot knuckles, turning to face a map on the wall and then projecting little laser beams, marking several cities around the country.

Sam moved closer to the map. "The closest one's in Washington."

Leo grinned. "Let's go!"

Mikaela moved to put the little Decepticon back in the box, but Noah shook her head and stepped forwards. "Can I just carry him with me?"

The Decepticon eyed Noah warily. "Wha-? I'm not a freakin' baby!"

Mikaela hesitated before nodding. "Okay. But keep the leash on."

Noah smiled and nodded before stepping forwards and scooping the little 'con into her arms. He yelled, but she bent her head down and whispered "It's either this or the box."

His struggles ceased almost immediately. "Fine." he scowled.

Noah smiled and shifted him so he would be more comfortable in her arms. The others began to climb up the ladder. "I'm Noah."

"Wheelie." he murmured, reluctantly relaxing into her arms.

Noah smiled, pleased that he was feeling more at ease. "Okay, Wheelie. I'm going to need you to hang onto me while I climb up the ladder, alright?"

Wheelie nodded and clung onto her jacket as she began climbing. When she was almost at the top, Leo took her hand and helped her up the rest of the way.

Before they walked out of the deli, Noah wrapped her jacket around Wheelie so that no passers-by would see him.

Simmons and Sam were in the front seats of Bee, and Leo and Mikaela were already in the back.

Noah opened the back door and raised an eyebrow at Leo. "Care to move over into the middle?" she asked, adjusting her grip on the jacket-clothed Wheelie.

Leo smirked. "Can't." he gestured to the big silver box the was in the middle seat. "You'll have to sit on my lap."

"No." Noah said firmly. "I'll go in Mudflap."

"Come on!" Leo whined. "I won't bite!"

Noah glared at him, but before she could say anything Sam spoke up. "Noah, I know he's irritating as hell, but please just sit on his knee. We don't have time to put the box in the trunk; We really have to go!"

Noah growled in frustration and climbed onto Leo's lap. "Shut up."

"I didn't say anything!" Leo protested.

"You didn't have to." Noah unwrapped the the jacket from Wheelie as Bumblebee pulled away and began driving.

Wheelie scowled at Leo. "You are not allowed to try anything on her!" he warned.

Leo blinked. "Alright."

Noah closed her eyes and leaned her head against the window. A few moments later she felt Leo's arms slide around her waist. She pulled them away and closed her eyes again.

Barely ten seconds later his arms slid around her again. She sighed. This was going to be a long journey.

"Hey, chica. Wake up."

Noah stirred slightly, keeping her eyes closed.

"We're here." Leo said softly into her ear.

"Where?" she mumbled sleepily, too drowsy to object about his arms around her waist as he held her against his chest.

"The Smithsonian Air and Space Museum." Simmons announced, climbing out of the car. "Land of dreams in there."

Noah groaned and buried her head in Leo's shoulder. "Do we seriously have to look around the Smithsonian for a Cybertronian energon signal? Effort."

"Come on." Sam called impatiently.

Leo glared at him. "Don't ruin the moment, bro." he said, tightening his arms around Noah, who just rolled her eyes and pulled away from him.

She looked around, frowning. "Where's Wheelie?"

Mikaela held up the silver box. "Have to put him back in until we get inside."

Noah nodded and stepped out of Bumblebee, her legs tingling slightly as the blood rushed back into them. She glanced around and her eyes widened when she saw Simmons ripping off his trousers. "Ack! What the hell are you doing?!" she yelped, shielding her eyes.

"Hold these." Simmons handed his jeans to Sam.

Sam just stared at him. "What is that?" he asked, referring to Simmons' weird, thong-like underwear.

"Hmm? Oh, I wear these when I'm gonna fuck." he said absently.

Sam looked mildly revolted, and Mikaela looked as though she were going to be sick.

"That's disgusting." Noah wrinkled her nose as Simmons started explaining about how it was a 'baseball thing'.

"All right; watches synchronised, mind sharp, bladders empty. If you're caught demand an attorney and don't ever say my name." Simmons instructed sharply, zipping up his jacket and pulling on a new pair of pants.

Noah glanced at Leo nervously. "What exactly are we going to be doing?" she muttered worriedly.

He just shrugged as Simmons tossed Sam a small bottle of pills, saying something about Oreos and polygraph tests. "I'm sure he has some kind of plan. Maybe."

Noah turned back to Simmons, far from reassured. Simmons nodded. "Okay, let's get this show on the road." he said, taking out a taser from his bag and flipping the switch experimentally.

The minute Leo saw the taser he freaked. "Whoa! No! I can't do this, alright! No, I'm not gonna do this! I don't wanna get killed by security guards!"

Simmons stepped closer until he was completely invaded Leo's personal space and pushed him up against Skids. "Kid, kid, kid! If you compromise this mission, you are dead to me. Now look into my eyes and tighten up that sphincter."

Leo just nodded, looking terrified. Noah glanced at Sam, who was just looking resigned. "Come on, we have to hurry." he sighed impatiently.

"Right! Let's go." Simmons nodded, leading the way into the museum. "Kid, Leo! C'mere. You too, girlie."

Noah glanced at Mikaela, unsure of who Simmons was talking to.

"Not the criminal. Leo's little Irish-looking girlfriend." Simmons clarified, pointing to Noah.

Noah scowled. "I'm not his girlfriend."

"How does she look Irish?" Leo looked bewildered.

Simmons shrugged. "She just looks it."

"But she doesn't have red hair or freckles." Leo pointed out.

Noah rolled her eyes. "You do realise that less than ten per cent of Irish people actually have red hair, right?"

Leo gaped at her. "Seriously?"

Simmons sighed. "Shut up and listen! We're gonna take out the security guards on duty, right? We're just gonna tase them. It'll quick and clean."

Leo started shaking his head. "Dios mio. I can't do this." Simmons took a threatening step forwards and Leo leapt back behind Noah. "No, no, no! Alright! I'll do it!" he yelped.

Simmons nodded and handed a Taser to Leo and Noah, keeping one for himself. "Let's do this."

Noah nodded nervously, finger tightening around the Taser as Sam and Mikaela ran off to hide while they disposed of the guards. She took a deep breath and followed Leo and Simmons as they began to act out the first part of their plan.

She stepped back and bounced on her toes slightly as Leo went into the bathroom, emerging a few moment later with his jeans and underwear around his ankles, his T-shirt barely covering his bare necessities. "Yo, papa! Bad news bro, we ran out of toilet paper. You have some out here? Please tell me you do."

Noah grimaced slightly and look away as he shuffled over to a security guard, who tried to usher him back into the toilets. She began to edge towards where the next security guard was standing on his own. She noticed that his eyes were fixed in the direction where Sam and Mikaela were hiding, so they wouldn't be able to get out as long as he was there. She took a deep breath to ready herself.

"Excuse me? I think I'm lost." she said, pulling her best 'I'm ditzy' look.

The guard looked her up and down. "The exit is right there." he pointed at the door.

Noah laughed hysterically, earning herself a startled look from the guard. "I know that, silly! I'm not looking for the exit. I'm looking for my.. Sister." she came up with quickly.

"Your sister?" he asked, raising a brow.

She nodded. "Yeah. My twin sister. She looks just like me. She doesn't act like me though. She got the brains, I got the beauty." she forced another laugh.

"But you just said that she looks just like you. So, she would have beauty as well, right?" he said, confused.

Noah blinked at him. "Are you saying I'm not pretty?"

"What? No!" the guard tried to backtrack quickly.

"Are you calling me ugly?"

"No! No, that's not what I said!" the guard panicked.

Noah had a sudden 'White Chicks' moment. "Oh. My. God. I'm freakin' pissed. I'm gonna call your boss- no! I'm going to write a letter!"

"Wh- no! There's no need for that! Come on, I'll help you find your sister!" he said quickly, stepping forwards and hurrying down the corridor, gesturing for her to follow him.

She stepped up close behind him. "I'm really sorry." she said, before jabbing the Taser into his neck. He jerked and fell to the ground, convulsing. "Oh my god." she muttered, stepping back and hurrying away, trying to forget that she had actually just tased someone.

She got back to the toilet Leo had been in at the same time Simmons skidded round the corner. "Hey Irish! Where is he?" he demanded.

Noah shrugged. "I don't know."

Simmons sighed impatiently and pushed open the bathroom door. Noah followed him in, looking around to see Leo lying convulsing next to a body guard, who looked to be in the same condition.

"What-?" Simmons took in the scene before him.

"How- many times- can- you get- tased- in the- nuts before- you- cant- have- kids?" Leo wheezed between convulsions.

Noah had to bite her lip hard to stop herself from laughing at his awkward situation. Simmons growled angrily and stepped forwards, grabbing Leo's leg and pulling him out of the bathroom.

"Don't- worry, princess. I'm sure- they- still work-fine."

Noah rolled her eyes, but still had to bite her lip to stifle her laughter as Simmons continued to lecture Leo as he dragged him by the leg over to the planes where Sam and Mikaela were waiting.

Sam raised an eyebrow. "What happened?"

"Don't ask."Noah giggled.

Sam shook his head slightly. "Okay. We've got an energon signal to find; Lets get to work!"


	13. Chapter 13

Noah was following Leo as he raced around planes, tying to find the energon signal. "We're close!" he yelled over his shoulder as they stopped at a large, old plane.

Sam, Mikaela, Simmons and Wheelie had all stopped around the same plane. "Is this it?" Noah asked dubiously.

Sam nodded. "This is it." he said quietly.

"Aw, this guy is a legend! He's like.. The chairman of the board! Point that shard at him!"

Sam took the Allspark shard out of his pocket and held it tentatively up to the plane. The shard flew out of his hand as if it were being pulled by a magnetic force.

Mikaela edged forwards and caught sight of something underneath the planes wing. "Oh, shit! It's a Decepticon!" she yelled, scrambling away as the plane shuddered and began to transform.

"Decepticon?" Simmons whispered in horror. "Run!"

Leo grabbed Noah's hand and pulled her roughly behind another plane. She peeked her head out to watch the Decepticon.

It was undoubtedly the most ungraceful transformation Noah had ever seen. The parts moved slowly, as if they were rusted, and when the transformation was complete, what looked like a really old grandfather robot (complete with a metal beard and cane) was standing there and yelling.

"What sort of hideous mausoleum is this?" he shouted, looking around in mild disgust. "Answer me, knaves! Show yourself, or suffer my infinite wrath!"

Sam edged around the plane and stepped towards the old Decepticon with his hands raised in a 'I Surrender' gesture. The rest of the group followed him uneasily. Noah attempted to pull her hand out of Leo's, but his grip tightened like a vice.

"Leo? Can you let go of me?" she hissed at him as the old Cybertronian ranted on.

"No." he whispered back, grip tightening further.

Noah narrowed her eyes at him as the Decepticon threw up his hands and yelled "Behold! The eternal glory of; Jetfire!"

"I tell ya, this guy did not age well." Wheelie muttered, shaking his head.

"I don't think he's gonna hurt us." Mikaela breathed as Jetfire yelled at the museum door to open for him.

"FIRE!" he yelled and a missile shot from his back, exploding a nearby plane. "Bollocks. Damn these worthless parts." he cursed as he broke down he door and lumbered into the sunlight.

"Whoa!" Sam chased after him immediately.

The rest rest followed, with Leo still holding tight to Noah's hand.

"The museum is going to be VERY angry!" Simmons yelled as they ran outside, glancing back at the ripped-apart door. "We've got to catch that plane!"

Noah huffed, ignoring Simmons stating the obvious. "Leo, I can run better when you're not stuck to my hand!" she yelled at him as Bumblebee and the twins skidded to a stop next to them.

Sam, Mikaela and Simmons ran up to Jetfire, trying to reason with him. Leo and Noah stopped a few steps behind. Leo turned and frowned slightly at her. "Do you not like me?"

Noah sighed. "That's not it. I'm sure you're a.. great guy. But right now, you're crushing the bones in my hand."

Leo was silent for a moment as Sam said to Jetfire "You know things I don't know. I know things you don't know. We can help each other out!"

Leo shook his head slightly. "I don't think he knows anything. Really." he said, earning himself a dirty look from Sam. He turned back to Noah as Sam turned back to Jetfire. "So you like me?"

Noah sputtered. "What? I never said that!"

"You suggested it." Leo said.

"Wh- no, I didn't!" Noah said, outraged. She stepped back out of the way as Sam began carving symbols into the ground with a blade.

"I think you did." Leo grinned slyly.

Noah glared at him and Wheelie kicked his leg. "Stop frickin' flirting! We're on a mission here!" he yelled, ignoring Leo's yelp of pain.

Noah grinned and turned back to Jetfire as he bent over the symbols, examining them intently.

"-all in my mind, and Megatron wants what's in my mind! Him and some guy called the Fallen." Sam was saying as he gestured to the symbols.

"The Fallen?! He left me here to rust! The original Decepticon! He's terrible to work for-" Jetfire went off on another tangent, waving his hands in the air. After a moment, he snapped back to attention. "These symbols were a part of my mission! The daggers tip! And the key!"

"Whoa, whoa slow down." Sam shook his head. "The daggers tip? The key? What are you talking about?"

"No time to explain." Jetfire answered shortly, stepping forwards and using his hands to create a dome around the five humans. Crackling blue energy erupted around his fingers like lightning, and he yelled something.

Leo went to grab for Noah's hand again, but she was out of his reach.

The energy convulsed on them, and suddenly they were gone.

Noah's eyes just managed to see sand and blue skies as she flew through the air. It took her a moment to realise that she was in a desert, an plummeting towards the ground.

Something green wrapped around her waist and hit the back of her head, and suddenly her vision went black.

When Noah regained consciousness, she was in Leo's lap with her head tucked into he crook of his shoulder in Bumblebee's backseat.

She blinked groggily. "Whu-?"

"Hey! Hey, she's awake!" Leo yelped, helping her to sit up. "You okay, chica?"

Noah winced at a sudden pain in her head. "What.. What happened?"

Sam turned around in the front seat and eyed her nervously. "Umm.. Jetfire did something called a Space-bridge, or something and transported us to Egypt. We're now looking for a mystical object called the Matrix of Leadership that may or may not be able to bring Optimus Prime back to life. We just have to work out a riddle that Jetfire gave us."

Noah just stated blankly at him. "What happened?" she asked again.

Sam scratched the back of his neck. "We got transported through the Space-bridge, but it was kinda bumpy.. Skids sort of landed on you and knocked you unconscious."

Noah groaned and leaned her head against Leo's shoulder. "God.. I'm gonna kill him."

Leo patted her head gently, being careful not to hurt her. "Umm.. This may not be the right time to point this out, but we're sorta being followed by cops.."

Noah twisted her head to look out the window but hissed as a sharp flash of pain shot up her neck.

"Easy." Leo soothed, rubbing her back.

"It hurts." she breathed absently. "Where are we?"

"Egypt." Leo repeated, frowning slightly. "You got a concussion or something?"

Noah shook her head ever so slightly. "I'm fine." she said as Bumblebee turned up a little dirt road in a town. He pulled up next to a pay phone and opened his doors. "Hurry." he chirped from the radio.

Sam, Mikaela and Simmons jumped out immediately, but Leo got out slower, lifting Noah out with him.

"Can you stand?" he asked her softly as Sam raced over to the payphone and demanded Simmons to call Major Lennox.

"Yeah." she said absently, gripping his jacket as she stood. "I'm gonna kill that goddamned Autobot."

Leo cracked a grin. "I'll help. Here, I'll be back in a second." he took a step back and grabbed a black piece of cloth around his face before racing to the corner.

Noah wobbled slightly on her legs, but managed to stay upright. Mikaela glanced at her. "You okay?"

Noah nodded. "Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine." she said as Simmons hung up the phone in a panic, eyes on a man with his face covered in a black turban ran up to them.

"Whoa, whoa, who are you?" Sam asked sharply, holding his hand up to stop the guy.

"Leo. Leo. It's Leo!" Leo yelled at him, removing the turban from his face. "We gotta go. Like, NOW. Cops are coming."

Bumblebee jumped down from the wall he was keeping watch from and transformed back into his alt mode. They all climbed in and Noah went to sit in the middle, only Leo pulled her onto his lap. For once, she sat without complaint.

Sam actually stared at her in shock. "I think she does have a concussion." he said as she buried her head in Leo's shoulder and closed her eyes.

Leo just grinned hugely. "Well. I, for one, am loving this." he laughed.

Sam just shook his head, struggling not to smirk. "Enjoy it while you can. We're about to head into an alien war."


	14. Chapter 14

After a couple of hours of driving, they had found a place to make camp.

After darkness fell, Sam and Mikaela sat outside together for some 'alone time'. Leo and Noah sat on the steps of the entrance to the building they were staying in.

"You feeling okay now?" Leo asked, rubbing the top of Noah's head.

She nodded and leaned her back against the step she was sitting on. "Yeah, fine. There'll probably one hell of a bruise though."

"It won't spoil your beauty, don't worry." Leo said comfortingly.

Noah snorted. "Thanks."

"No problem. Y'know, I don't think you ever told me where you were from or how you got to be at the library that day we were being chased by Alice."

Noah was silent for a bit. "No. I didn't."

"So can you tell me?" Leo asked, his thumb rubbing soothing circles on Noah's back.

Noah sighed heavily. "I guess. Well.. You know that I spent some time with the 'cons.." she trailed off slightly.

Leo nodded. "Yeah. You never gave me much details on that though."

Noah sighed through her nose. "Yeah, I know. Well.. I was walking home from school one day, when I realised I was being followed by a cop car. I thought that was weird, but I didn't think much if it 'cause it was a cop car. But it kept following me and finally I lost it and screamed at it. No cop got out of the car though, so I knocked on the window. The passenger door opened so I peeked in, but there was no driver. It pulled me in with seatbelts and brought me to the Decepticon base. The cop car was a Decepticon, in case you didn't get that."

Leo glanced at her. "Yeah, I got that part, chica."

Noah nodded. "Well, I had hurt myself on the way there and one of the Decepticon doctors, Knock Out, patched me up." Leo made a soft noise of surprise at the thought of a Decepticon helping a human, but Noah either didn't hear it or chose to ignore it. "The leader at the time, Starscream-" Noah's voice audibly softened slightly when she said his name, "He said he wanted information on my dad-"

"Who's your dad?" Leo interrupted curiously.

"Jeremy Rogers. He's a soldier that works at a classified base in Die-" Noah caught herself sharply. "In somewhere I'm not meant to mention. So, Starscream wanted to know where the base is, because he thought that my dad was working.. With.. Autobots..." Noah trailed off, blinking. "Oh my god. My dad works with Autobots and he never told me."

Leo frowned. "He should have told you."

Noah blinked dazedly. "Well.. It was classified, I guess."

"And yet not telling you put you in danger! You were kidnapped by Decepticons! They could have killed you!"

"They wouldn't have killed me." Noah said softly.

Leo glanced at her dubiously. "You think that they're willing to destroy this whole entire planet, but not you?"

Noah hesitated. Starscream wouldn't hurt her.. Would he? "I don't know." she said, unsure of whether she was answering Leo's question or her own.

Leo sighed, watching her closely from the corner of his eye. "So how did you escape?"

Noah looked up at the stars. They looked so pretty. "I didn't. Starscream.. He brought me home."

Leo turned to gape at her. "You can't be serious. He just brought you home?"

Noah nodded. "Yeah. Left me a couple of blocks away from my house. My aunt almost had a hernia when I walked through the door."

"Y'know, I thought I knew you from somewhere. I recognised you from the missing ads on TV." Leo said suddenly.

Noah winced. "Yeah. I can only imagine what my aunt is doing now. Probably putting up 'Missing AGAIN' signs."

Leo smiled slightly. "Hey, at least she cares. My mama.. She probably doesn't know I'm missing. Even if the college told her I hadn't been to class in the past week or so, she probably wouldn't pass any remarks." he said, looking pained.

Noah patted his shoulder. "I'm sorry."

Leo turned to look her in the eyes. He stared at her for a moment, before his face changed slightly.

The kiss came suddenly and without warning. One moment Leo was just looking at her, the next he had captured her mouth with his and was clasping her face with his hands. Noah froze completely, unsure of what to do. After a moment of not being kissed back, Leo released her and blushed. "Umm.. Sorry."

"It's okay." Noah said, slightly breathlessly.

"You could have pushed me away, you know." he said, going scarlet.

"I know." Noah said quietly. In truth, she had been too shocked to do much of anything.

Leo glanced up at her through his long lashes, then leaned towards her again. She tensed, but he didn't grab her face again. Instead, his hand brushed her cheek gently and he pressed his lips lightly against hers.

Noah relaxed at the much softer kiss, allowing Leo to stroke her cheek. His tongue pressed lightly against her lower lip, asking for access. She opened her mouth slightly and he slipped his tongue in, tickling her slightly. She had to refrain from laughing and killing the moment.

After a minute she pulled back, smiling ever so slightly. "Second time was better." she informed him.

Leo nodded. "I was just thinking that myself."

She smiled and yawned, leaning against his shoulder. "It's getting late. Maybe we should go to bed."

"Whoa. Moving a bit fast?" he grinned at her when she rolled her eyes and stood up. "C'mon, I think there's a couch upstairs."

Noah followed him into the building and let him lead her by the hand up the stairs. They located the couch and sat down, Noah curling into him like a cat.

Leo kissed the top of her head, then her cheeks, then her nose. Noah laughed slightly. "Oh, you're going to be a kissy boyfriend, are you?" she grinned as he kissed her ear.

He hesitated. "Boyfriend?"

Noah froze. "That's not what I-"

"No, no. I like it." he grinned and kissed her lips. "That makes you my girlfriend."

Noah relaxed slightly and leaned into the kiss. Unbidden, a mental image of Starscream popped up. She pushed it away quickly and deepened the kiss. After all, why would Starscream matter? It's not like he would have had anything against her kissing someone else. She could almost hear his voice growling 'No, you're MINE' in the back of her mind.

She tilted her head back as Leo trailed kisses down her neck, biting slightly at one spot. He kissed back up her neck and back to her lips, where he plunged his tongue into her mouth again. Noah had to force herself not to laugh at the tickling sensation his tongue was causing. He probably wouldn't be too impressed if she burst out laughing at his kissing skills.

"Whoa. Am I interrupting something?" Simmons' voice came from the doorway.

Noah and Leo leapt apart, Noah looking startled and Leo with a huge dopey grin on his face. "No." Noah said at the same time Leo said "Yes".

Simmons raised his eyebrow. "Alright. Well, I'm sleeping on the couch."

"This couch?" Leo gestured to the couch he was on.

"Yes, that one."

"But we're kissing on this one." he frowned, ignoring Noah when she hid her face with her hands.

"And you've had an audience, too." Simmons gestured to the window.

The window was old, and didn't have any glass, so the faces of Mudflap and Skids were plainly visible.

"Wh- guys!" Noah yelled in protest.

Leo raised his eyebrows. "That's kinda perverted."

Skids shook his head. "Naw, we saw you's on the steps an' we's thought you was tryin' to eat li'l lady's face. Den you's came up here and we's thought tha' we should keep an optic on you's."

Noah could feel her face flood with colour. She groaned and hid her face in Leo's shoulder.

"We's took pictures too." Mudflap nodded.

Noah's head shot up. "Why?!" she shrieked.

Mudflap looked startled. "'Cuz it was special! That was you'ses first kiss!"

Noah stared at him. "I'm going to sleep." she announced tiredly, curling back up to Leo.

Leo nodded and said something to Simmons, who took a place on the couch beside him.

They were all asleep in a matter of minutes.

Unfortunately, sleep didn't last long as Sam came tearing up the steps upstairs.

"Simmons!" he roared, taking the steps two at a time. "Leo! You gotta wake up!"

Noah woke first, glancing beside her to see Simmons and Leo cuddling together. She snickered slightly as they jerked apart when Sam burst into the room.

"Listen, Astronomy 101, page 47. You remember the class?" Sam asked frantically.

Leo blinked muzzily. "No. No, I was only college for two days, do you remember that?"

"Come on. Get up, up, up!" Sam insisted, waving his hands.

Noah groaned and tried to bury back into the couch, but Leo grabbed her waist and hauled her up. They followed Sam outside, where he began pointing eagerly at the stars. "See those three stars right there? See how the last one touches the horizon? That's Orion's Belt."

"Yeah, pretty." Noah yawned sleepily.

"They're also called the Three Kings, because the Pyramids of Giza were built to mirror those stars." Sam continued like Noah hadn't said anything. "It's like an arrow staring us straight in the face!"

"They're pointing due east, towards Jordan." Simmons stepped forwards, pointing at the stars. "The mountains of Petra."

"Well, what are we waiting for? Road trip! Bumblebee?" Sam yelled.

Bumblebee came tearing round the corner, followed shortly by Mudflap and Skids. They all pulled up in a line in front of the five humans. "Yo, are we's goin' or what?" Skids warbled from the radio.

"Shut up." Noah kicked his tyre irritably.

"Aw, c'mon li'l lady. You still pissed at me f'r fallin' on ya?"

"Yes." she said tersely, scowling at him. "Jackass."

"I resent tha'! Hey, is tha' a bite mark on yo' neck?"

Noah's held flew to her throat. "What? No."

Sam stared at her as he began to climb into Bumblebee. "Bite mark-? Oh." he abruptly began to snicker.

Noah's face flushed as Sam and Leo fist-bumped. Mikaela rolled her eyes at them. "Wow guys, mature."

Leo just grinned and took Noah's hand, pulling her to the car. He climbed in first, then turned and grinned at her, waiting for her to climb into his lap.

"Wait, did Leo bite yo' neck?" Mudflap called confusedly.

Noah firmly ignored them and sat on Leo's knee. "I don't understand," she began, "Why there's a perfectly good middle seat right next to us, and yet you insist on me sitting on your lap."

Leo grinned and wrapped his arms around her waist, resting his hands on her stomach. "Does it bother you?" he asked, resting his head on her shoulder.

She decided not to answer him, leaning forwards to talk to Sam. "How long is it going to take us to get to this place?"

Sam shrugged. "A couple of hours."

Noah sagged. "Great."

Leo grinned. "Don't worry, princesa. I know a way to pass the time."

"Not in my car!" Sam yelled furiously as Bumblebee drove out onto the road.

Leo blinked. "I was thinking of playing I Spy or something." he said innocently.

Sam glared at him. "Sure you were."

Noah rolled her eyes. "I'm going back to sleep." she yawned, closing her eyes again.


	15. Chapter 15

**Please review :D**

"It's gotta be around here somewhere.." Simmons muttered, holding the energon detector higher in the air.

No one answered him, too tired from trekking around the desert for hours.

"There it is." Sam said suddenly, pointing at an Egyptian building.

It was old, two stories high and made of red stone, and it looked as though it had been built into the face of a cliff. "It's in there?" Noah asked, eyeing the building uncertainly. She didn't get an answer as everyone began walking towards it.

"Spec-tacular." Skids said approvingly. He lumbered along beside his twin and Bumblebee as the humans ran for the building.

There was a large ledge that needed to be climbed up in order to get inside the building; Sam jumped up first and leaned down to pull Mikaela up. Leo climbed onto it next and held out his hand to pull Noah up, but she shook her head and pulled herself up on her own.

Once they were all inside, Sam began looking around frantically. "It's in here somewhere, guys. Spread out and look."

After a few minutes however, it was clear that there was nothing to be found. Sam was slumped on a step in defeat, with his head in his hands. Leo and Simmons were yelling at each other again.

"-sometimes you get to the end of the rainbow, and the leprechauns went and booby-trapped it!"

Noah ran her hand over her face, resisting the urge to punch the both of them. "Oh my god, shut up!"

"It's not over." Sam said quietly, looking up from where he had been sitting in despair.

"Why is we still listenin' to yo' li'l punk ass?" Mudflap demanded, doorwings fluttering in aggravation. "What have you done fo' us other than ding my rear?"

"He killed Megatron, fool." Skids crossed his arms.

"Well, he didn' do a very good job, 'cause he's back now!"

"What, are yo' scared?"

"Yeah, scared of yo' ugly face!"

"Ugly?! We's twins, you stupid genius!"

Skids and Mudflap launched themselves at each other, punching and kicking. Skids picked Mudflap up and threw him into the wall Sam had been standing beside moments previously.

Bumblebee, apparently tired of the twins' constant fighting, picked the both of them up by their necks and hit them against each other hard, before flinging them out the doorway. Noah held back a laugh as she watched them sit up, rubbing their heads and complaining.

"Guys.. Look at this." Sam said suddenly.

Noah glanced around to see him and Mikaela poking at a hole in the wall that Mudflap had been thrown against. "Aw, crap. Is this a national monument or something? 'Cause we're probably gonna have to pay a shitload of money to repair that."

"No, look." Sam said, ripping of another piece of the wall in order to see what was behind it. "Bee? Shoot it."

Bumblebee moved closer and transformed his arm into a gun, before blasting the hole even bigger.

Noah and Leo moved closer and peeked into the wall. "Are they... bodies?" Noah said suddenly, recognising Cybertronian protoforms.

"The tomb of the Primes." Simmons murmured, crawling forwards into the 'tomb' with a flashlight. Sam said nothing, just stepped ahead of him with his own flashlight.

"C'mon." Leo murmured, taking Noah's hand and pulling her forwards.

"I don't think I want to go in there." Noah looked at the cave apprehensively.

"It'll be fine." Leo insisted, pulling her hand gently.

Noah shook her head, more firmly this time. "No. I'll stay out here."

Leo hesitated, before nodding and following the rest of the group into the tomb. Noah watched from the outside as they all seemed to crowd around one particular body, whose hand had curled up slightly into a claw.

"The Matrix." Sam whispered reverently, and Noah watched as he reached out and picked up the small object so gently, as if it were made of glass. His reverence turned to horror, then panic as the Matrix turned to dust in his hands. "No. No! This isn't how it's supposed to happen."

Noah turned as the sound of jets reached her from the outside. She turned away as they began arguing and walked to the doorway of the main building to watch the jets. Her heart leapt for a moment when she thought one of them was Starscream, but fell when she realised that it was just a regular military fighting jet.

Minutes later, the rest of the group stumbled out of the tomb, with Sam holding tight to a sock filled with the dust that had previously been the Matrix of Leadership. Simmons ran out and climbed onto a rock so he could see the jets better, and began pointing and shouting excitedly. "U.S Airforce! C-17's!"

Noah squinted at the bigger plane as something fell from it. "What's that?"

"Oh my god." Sam stared at the huge object. "That's Optimus."

Noah turned to look at the body as it fell. So that was the legendary Prime. Her heart twisted slightly at how broken the body looked, and pictured 'Screamer falling like that... She shook her head firmly to rid herself of the mental images. "We'd better get over there then."

Sam nodded, then seemed to snap to his senses. "Yes. Yeah, you're right. Let's go!"

"Do you really think you can bring him back to life with that pixie dust?" Simmons demanded, running after them as they started the long walk to the small village where Optimus' body had been dropped.

"Absolutely." Sam's eyes narrowed in determination.

Bumblebee pulled up next to them abruptly and opened his car door. "Need a ride?" played from his radio.

Noah grinned at him as they all climbed in and he took off, heading straight for the village. No one spoke in the car, and every time Bumblebee drove over a sand dune and came down hard on his shocks, the only sounds were those of the human passengers grabbing onto the seats to stop themselves from going flying.

Leo took Noah's hand and squeezed it. She forced herself to smile back but didn't say anything; the thought of breaking the tense silence was as unattractive as the silence itself.

There was an explosion to the left and Bumblebee spun, brakes squealing. His doors flung open and the radio crackled to life again. "Go- I will- cover- you."

"Okay. You lead those Decepticons away." Sam nodded and patted Bee's roof before grabbing Mikaela's hand and sprinting down the dunes towards the village, which was now only a hundred metres away.

"I hope that dust works, kid." Simmons called after him, before turning to Leo. "Okay. You and me, we're gonna help throw their fire along with the two stooges over there, okay?" Simmons pointed over his shoulder at the twins.

Noah didn't even glance at them; her attention was fully fixed on the fighter jet that had tried to bomb them. "It can't be.." she whispered.

"Oh, god. It's coming back! He's turning around!" Leo yelled, pointing at the jet.

Simmons nodded. "Right. It's up to me. One man. Betrayed by the country he loves..." he went on, marching towards Skids.

He climbed in and started the engine as Leo ran towards him and threw himself at the car. "I'm coming with you!"

Simmons got out and started to yell, but after a few minutes seemed to resign himself. "Fine! What about the girl?"

Leo glanced back over to where Noah was still staring into the sky. "Noah! C'mon! Are you coming?"

Noah blinked and turned back to look at him. "Um.. No. I'm gonna go with Sam."

"He already left, babe." Leo frowned at her.

Noah glanced around and realised he was right. "Oh. Well, I'll catch up with him."

Leo hesitated before running over to her and pulling her close. He kissed her again needily. After a minute he pulled back. "Don't you dare die on me." he said throatily.

Noah forced a smile, but couldn't stop her eyes from flicking back to the fighter jet that was coming steadily closer. "I won't."

Leo nodded and ran back to the car, where Simmons gunned the engine and took off. Mudflap slowed as he passed her, and his voice came from the radio. "Promise yo' will be careful, li'l lady?"

Noah smiled and nodded. "Promise." she assured him. She waited until he had taken off after his twin and was out of sight before turning and racing in the direction Sam had run.

After barely a couple of minutes the sweat was dripping down her back as the sun beat down cruelly on her shoulders. Growling in frustration, she tore off her jumper and threw it behind her, not even hesitating. She was left in the purple tank top she had been wearing since she had been taken on this ridiculous 'quest', and she sighed in relief as some air hit her arms. She reached a rocky outlook and was half relieved and half annoyed to see she had about another mile to go. Glancing up, she saw the jet circling the village. The jet that looked so much like Starcream.

She broke into a run again, heading straight for the village. She reached the edges of it after about ten minutes, and leaned on a building for a moment to catch her breath. Panting heavily, she shot another glance into the sky before looking at her surroundings. Sam and Mikaela must have reached here before her; the only question being where were they now?

Noah fought down the urge to call their names and break the eerie silence. She ducked under arches and through abandoned buildings, wondering vaguely where the inhabitants had gone.

There was a crunching noise behind her as someone stepped on a piece of debris, and she whirled around in a panic. A soldier in a khaki uniform gestured at her to be quiet. "Are you with the kid?" he hissed at her, hiding slightly behind a wall.

"What kid? You mean Sam?" Noah guessed.

The soldier nodded. "Sure. I think that was his name. Where is he?"

"I don't know. He ran ahead of me. He should be here by now." Noah explained, just as another explosion rocked the ground they were standing on.

The soldier reached out a hand to steady her, "You're gonna have to come with me." he said, tugging her arm. She just nodded and followed him, glancing around at every corner they came to. "Decepticons are crawling all over this place." the soldier growled, adjusting his rifle.

"They are?" Noah leaned forwards suddenly.

The soldier nodded. "Yeah. Gotta keep your voice down. What's your name, kid?" the man glanced over his shoulder at her.

"Noah." she replied, glancing around. "Noah Rogers."

The soldier stiffened slightly and glanced at her in surprise. "Rogers?" he asked. Noah nodded. "Would you happen to be related to Jeremy Rogers?"

Noah stared at him. "How did you know that?"

"He's my friend. I'm Peter." he held out his hand.

She shook it uncertainly and smiled. "Is he here? Can I see him?"

"He's somewhere." Peter raised his voice slightly to be heard over the gunfire. "We'll have to find him without getting killed first."

Noah gulped and nodded her understanding. Peter grabbed her arm and broke into a run, heading for what looked like-

"Are they more Autobots or just moving buildings?" Noah yelled to Peter as they ran, dodging bullets as they tore up the ground by their feet.

"Autobots. They're on our side." was the reply she got before she was shoved in behind the ruins of a building. "Stay here!"

"What?" Noah whirled around to see Peter legging it over to a group of soldiers around the other Autobots. "Peter!"

Peter just turned and gave her a 'wait' gesture with his hand, before turning to talk to a soldier with brown hair. It wasn't her father, she knew that much for sure. Whatever Peter said to the other soldier made him stare intently at Noah, before yelling an order.

Noah started to feel edgy, and began glancing around every few seconds as the soldiers talked. She screamed as a building next to her blew up and several soldiers were killed instantly.

"Noah!" Peter roared from where he was talking to the other soldiers. "Get out of there!"

Noah began to run towards him and the other soldiers, but she barely got a few feet before a giant metal hand closed around her body. She screamed again as she was lifted into the air. At the sight of red optics, she almost relaxed but the chilling laughter that followed definitely didn't belong to Starscream.

The Decepticon grinned at her, before powering his cannons and shooting at the group of soldiers. A large, black Autobot leapt in front of the humans to protect them, before opening fire on the Decepticon.

Somehow, Noah ended up upside down in the Decepticon's fist, her upper body hanging towards the ground. She could vaguely hear someone, possibly Peter, scream "Don't shoot the girl!"

The Decepticon laughed his creepy laugh again, but this time it was directed at the black Autobot. "Don't you see how weak you are? You could kill me, but you won't because you don't want to hurt the squishy." he sneered.

The Autobot just growled and shot at him again, trying to avoid hitting Noah, who was now squirming desperately in the 'cons grip as all the blood flowed to her head. The 'con grinned maliciously at her. "You can be my new little pet."

There was a yell suddenly as a whole lot of soldiers ran to the side. The Decepticon holding her turned to see what they were running from and promptly got punched in the face.

He roared in pain and staggered back, still keeping his grip painfully tight on Noah as Starscream attacked him. "Give her to me. NOW." 'Screamer roared furiously.

"Fine." The Decepticon choked, letting go of her abruptly.

Noah couldn't even find the air to scream as she fell, her body twisting as she neared the ground. Starscream dove to catch her, his clawed hand wrapping around her much gentler than the other 'Con had. Once he had her in his grasp, he turned and shot the Decepticon in the face. As the 'con fell, Starscream turned and ran. As he ran, he looked around for a place to hide momentarily.

"'Screamer?"

Starscream glanced down at the tiny girl in his hand. "Yes?" he growled, ducking behind a half ruined building.

"Where are we going?"

He vented and peeked over the top of the building. "I don't know. Away from here. I don't know of you recall this, but before I left you, you promised that you wouldn't get in trouble."

"I hardly think this is my fault." she scowled at him as she sat up in his hand. "It's not my war."

"I never said it was your fault." he ducked as a building near them exploded. "Optimus Prime is back. We need to get out of here."

"He's back?" Noah asked in surprise. That meant that Sam hadn't failed. She wasn't sure whether to be happy for Sam or disappointed for Starcream. "So... Should we leave?"

Starscream said nothing, optics fixed on something far away that Noah's human eyes wouldn't have picked up. "He is fighting Megatron and The Fallen."

"Who do you hope wins?" Noah asked in a would-be casual voice, her eyes watching his face intently.

Starscream turned his optics on her and stared at her for a long moment. "I don't know." he said at last.

Noah opened her mouth again, but before she could say anything, a roar of "STARSCREAM!" came from the distance.

Starscream stiffened. "Megatron calls. Wait here." he went to put her down on the ground, but she clung on.

"No! No, no, no! You are NOT going to leave me again!" she hollered, holding onto his finger.

He looked pained. "I'll be back. I promise."

Noah stared at him, breathing hard. "Take me with you."

Starscream shook his head immediately. "If Megatron saw you, he'd kill you for fun."

"I don't want you to leave again. Please take me with you. You can put me in the place you put me in last time! The place with the blue light. I won't break it, I swear."

Starscream half-smiled. "I know you won't break it. I don't know, Noah.. I mean it when I say Megatron will kill you if he finds you."

"I know. But there are some Decepticon's that would hide me too, right? Like Knock Out?" she asked hesitantly.

Starscream was clearly thinking hard. "Thundercracker might..."

"Who?" Noah asked, confused.

Starscream shook the question away. "All right. But you have to do as I say, understand?"

Noah nodded immediately, watching as 'Screamer's chest plates slid open, revealing the small cavity where his spark rested. She crawled into his outstretched hand and he lifted her up to his spark-chamber. He made sure she was nestled comfortably inside before speaking again. "Seeing as I'm taking you with me, you have to promise you won't do anything stupid."

Noah frowned slightly. "What do you mean? I don't do stupid things. I'm very responsible. What was the last stupid thing I've done?"

Starscream raised an optic ridge. "You just demanded to go with a Decepticon to chase after his warlord commander (despite the fact that said warlord would crush you if he found you), purely because you didn't want the Decepticon to leave you behind."

Noah looked at him calmly. "I'm not hearing the stupid part."

Starscream vented. "You're impossible." he grumbled, closing his chest plates.

Noah just laughed and leaned back comfortably in his spark-chamber. She was so much more comfortable in it this time; most likely because she knew what it was.

She edged closer to the steady thrumming of Starscream's spark, comforted by the warmth. She realised she could hear Starscream speaking with someone outside, and listened carefully. "Not to call you a coward, master, but sometimes cowards survive..."

She could feel him move away, and realised he was going to transform. She took a breath and prepared herself for the inevitable clashing of gears and plates. He transformed quickly, and she ended up in the cockpit as usual as Starscream took off and flew into the sky.

"Sorry." he said through the radio.

She glanced at him, slightly startled. "What for?"

"Transforming without warning you."

"Oh." Noah grinned at him. "That's alright."

"Are you still sure you want to come with me?" he asked suddenly, his voice full of uncertainty.

Noah nodded determinedly. "Yes. The last time I left, I ended up in the middle of a war. I don't plan on leaving again any time soon."

"You were dragged into a war you had no part in." Starscream growled angrily.

Noah rubbed the leather pilots seat soothingly. "Yes, but I survived, right?"

"Just about. I just... Would you not prefer to stay with your father? It's not too late for me to turn around."

Noah glanced down at the destruction of the village on the ground, which was getting smaller as Starscream gained height. "If I didn't know better, I'd say you're trying to get rid of me." she tried to joke.

"No. I'm not trying to get rid of you. I just don't want to take you somewhere that you don't want to go." he insisted.

She was silent for a moment, before she frowned slightly. "How did you know my dad was down there?"

Starscream was quiet for a moment. "You were on the news, did you know that? Missing persons ad. Do you know how much I panicked when I saw that? Exactly one day after I leave you home at your request, you go fragging missing! So I searched. I thought you might have tried to find your male parental unit after finding out that he worked with the Autobots, but I couldn't find any record of you trying to call him or buying plane tickets or anything.

"Then, The Fallen put out a bounty for the Witwicky boy. And the human news reported that the boy had three accomplices. A human boy, named Leo Spitz, and two human girls; Mikaela Banes, and an unknown female. When I saw the picture of the unknown female, I almost glitched. Because it looked just like you. But I told myself 'No, it couldn't be MY Noah. It has to be someone else.' I could have convinced myself it wasn't you, but then Barricade commed me and demanded to know why my 'squishy' was helping the Witwicky boy. So that was an awkward conversation I could have avoided. So, I searched as best as I could for you, but the Autobots really know how to cover their tracks. I couldn't find you at all. Until today, of course. When I saw you almost being crushed by another Decepticon. I was NOT impressed. Especially considering the slagging Autoscum were meant to be keeping you safe! That what they're supposed to do!"

Starscream finally finished his rant, his radio fizzling slightly as he lapsed into silence. Noah just looked at him wide-eyed. He vented, warm air blowing on Noah's face. "Never scare me like that again."

"Okay." she said quietly, patting his seat again. "I won't."

"Good. You never answered my question." he said suddenly.

"What was the question again?"

"Would you not prefer to stay with your father?"

"Oh." Noah looked out the window, fiddling slightly with the seatbelt around her waist. "No, I don't think I would. I mean, I know it sounds awful. But I haven't seen him in years. He didn't want to be with me then. That's why he left me with Aunt Amy. He never really wanted kids, y'know? It was my mom that wanted a big family. So when I was born, she was delighted. But then she got cancer and couldn't have anymore kids, so the whole 'big family' thing went out the window. And when she died, my dad didn't want to take care of me. He loved me, I know he did, he just didn't want to look after me."

"If he loved you, why didn't he want to stay with you?" he demanded angrily.

Noah shrugged. "I don't know. I used to ask my aunt about it, but she'd always say the same thing. 'Your father loves you, don't you forget it'. She would never actually answer my question. I used to be angry about it, but I think the anger just sort of faded away."

There was silence for a long moment, before the seatbelt tightened around her. "He shouldn't have left you."

Noah shrugged, uncomfortable with the subject. She glanced out the window again and her eyes widened when she saw they were over the ocean. "'Screamer, where are we going?"

"I don't know." he admitted. "I'm following Megatron."

"Where is he?" Noah leaned forwards curiously.

"Ahead of us." Starscream replied.

A large (and fairly battered looking) jet was flying a good bit ahead of them, swaying at every gust of wind.

"He's not a natural flyer." Starscream explained. "Seeker's are born to fly. Megatron... Not so much."

Noah smiled and nodded. "I see that. Have you any idea at all where we're going?"

"Well, if we keep up this flight path, I believe we will land somewhere in the place you humans call Africa."

"We're going to Africa?" Noah asked excitedly.

"I think so. Megatron is injured and will need some time to rest, so he'll probably stay there. But I'm taking you away as soon as I can." Starscream said absently.

Noah grinned. "I've always wanted to go to Africa."

Starscream snorted. "Consider it a late birthday present from me."

Noah blinked. "What?"

"Consider it a late birthday present. It was your birthday a couple of days ago, wasn't it?" Starscream asked slowly.

"W-was it?" Noah frowned. "What day is it today?"

"The twentieth of June. You're birthday is on the fifteenth, is it not? That's what your birth certificate says..." Starscream trailed off.

Noah blinked. "Holy crap. I completely forgot about my birthday. I'm eighteen! I'm officially an adult."

"Happy birthday." Starscream said, the grin in his voice audible.

Noah laughed and leaned back. "Thanks. Wow."

"Get some sleep, femme. We won't be landing for another couple of hours." Starscream instructed firmly.

Noah nodded slightly and curled up into the seat. The adrenaline was gone out of her system and she was left feeling drained. It was almost ridiculous how easy it was to fall asleep listening to the sound of Starscream's rotors turning, or the air whistling over his wings. But then again, it also seemed ridiculous that she had been able to sleep anywhere other than with him by her side.


	16. Chapter 16

When Noah woke up, she was tucked away in Starscream's spark-chamber. It took her a moment to realise what had woken her, before the whole chamber shook, as if Starscream was being pushed around.

A loud 'clang' echoed through the spark-chamber, and Noah stood up unsteadily. Feelings of pain, anger, frustration and humiliation were radiating off 'Screamer's spark, though they were muted, and Noah frowned slightly as she edged closer to it. She stroked the wall of the metal chamber soothingly, rubbing small circles in the warm metal with her thumbs. "Is everything alright, 'Screamer?" she called uncertainly.

The iridescent glowing of his spark brightened and thrummed louder, as if it were acknowledging her presence. A pained grunt could be heard, though it was muffled slightly, and was accompanied by a jolting force that almost knocked Noah over

"Starscream? Are you okay? You sound like you're getting hurt." Noah called worriedly, her thumbs rubbing circles faster.

There was no answer, but the next pained grunt was quieter, as if Starcream was trying to muffle the sound as much as he could.

It was hard to tell how much time had passed, but eventually the sounds of pain and the jarring blows had stopped coming, and everything went still.

"Starscream?" Noah asked cautiously, unsure where to address so focusing her attention on the pulsing ball of light.

There was still no answer, but she could feel him stand up. She sucked in a breath as he transformed and took off into the sky abruptly, causing her to fall back suddenly against the seat.

She clutched the pilots seat as she landed in it and stared wide-eyed out the widow. "Starscream?" she whispered. The only answer was a crackle of the radio. "'Screamer?" she tried again.

This time, Starscream answered "Yes?" he asked waspishly, sounding slightly pained.

"Are you okay?"

"I'm fine." the answer was too short and clipped to be believable.

"Where are we going?" Noah tried.

"Away." was the only answer she got.

She was silent for the next five minutes, until Starscream began to descend. She glanced out the window and saw the sandy expanse of the savannah stretching out.

Starscream landed with a lot les grace than usual, causing Noah to bounce in her seat. He said nothing as he opened the door to the cockpit for her to climb out.

She jumped from the body of the plane to the ground, and turned as he transformed. Her eyes widened minutely as she took in the dents and scratches all along his body. "What happened?"

Starscream glanced away, focusing his attention on a zebra who was grazing 10 metres away. "Megatron was not too pleased that he didn't win the battle." he said quietly.

"He beat you up?" Noah whispered in horror.

Starscream shrugged, then winced as a metallic scraping sound was heard. "It's not out of the ordinary. The damn glitch-head does it every other day just to prove he can and I can't defend myself." Noah continued to stare wide eyed at his injuries until he turned away, scowling in irritation. "Stop staring at me."

"Sorry." she murmured, tearing her eyes away from him. She took in her surroundings as she tried to come up with something to fill the awkward silence between them. "Is that a giraffe?" she asked suddenly, staring at the animal eating leaves from high up on a tree.

Starscream glanced carelessly at it. "Yes, I believe so. Can't say that I like them much; gangly, ungraceful things. But then most Earth creatures are."

Noah ignored the fact that he had unintentionally called her gangly and ungraceful and instead tried to make her way to the giraffe, crouching and sneaking the entire way.

Starscream raised an optic ridge at her. "What are you doing?"

"Shhhh!" she waved her hand desperately. "I'm trying to sneak up on the giraffe!"

Starscream frowned, but leaned forward curiously to observe her closely. "Why?"

"Because I've never seen one up close before."

"No, I meant why do we have to be quiet?" he said, his voice muted so the giraffe, who was still grazing freely, wouldn't hear.

"So we don't scare it away." Noah whispered back, keeping her eyes locked on the giraffe.

Starscream rolled his optics. "It wasn't scared off by me landing, or transforming, or talking loudly a few moments ago. And then there's the fact that it's just eating an organic plant as though an alien creature isn't sitting just two meters away."

Noah scowled at him. "Don't ruin my fun." she chastised. "So, what do you plan to do with me now?" she asked, sitting down in the long grass.

Starscream gazed into the distance and nodded. "I've been thinking about that for a while," he admitted. "And I'm not too sure. I never really thought past the stage of actually finding you. I'm not leaving you back; I know that much for sure," he paused, as if waiting for her to object, or to tell him she wanted to go home. When she just nodded, he continued, looking slightly relieved, "I have to get you away from Megatron, so we'll probably be leaving this country soon; maybe tomorrow. That should give you plenty of time to enjoy the scenery." he gave her a crooked smile.

Noah laughed and looked around her again. Her view was partially blocked by the grass she sat in, but she could still see over it. "Do you think there are any lions around here?"

Starscream tilted his head. "Lions? Maybe. But back to the point. Tomorrow when we leave we'll be going to an underground base, where we'll meet up with my trine mates."

Noah nodded slightly, then shifted and frowned. "Umm.. Trine mates? Are they like- Is one of them your girlfriend? Or whatever the Cybertronian equivalent is."

Starscream tilted his head again as he searched the meaning of 'girlfriend'. Once he found it he practically cringed. "No. No! Nothing like that. My trine is like... It's like having brothers, in a way. We can feel things over our trine bond. But we're not- I mean, I'm not-"

Noah just nodded quickly. "No, I get it."

"Good." Starscream sighed. "Anyway, I sent a message to Thundercracker, and he sent me the coordinates. Unfortunately, your picture is everywhere, claiming you to be 'kidnapped'. So, we will have to alter your appearance somehow, in a way that no one would recognise you."

Noah thought for a moment. "We could cut my hair." she said slowly.

Starscream looked down at her as she fingered her waist-length curls and shook his head. "No."

Noah frowned at him. "No? But we have to change my appearance. My hair is the most obvious thing about me. If we cut it short and then I can dye it when we get back to the US-"

"No." Starscream repeated, shaking his head adamantly.

"Why not?"

Starscream frowned and reached out a finger to stroke her hair. "I like it. I don't want you to cut it."

Noah held still as he played with her hair, and couldn't help but smile at the satisfied look on his face when she let him twirl it around his long, slender finger. "I like it too. I haven't cut it since my mon died. But maybe it needs to change, right? Plus, I've never dyed my hair before."

Starscream said nothing for a few minutes as he fiddled with Noah's hair, before venting in defeat. "Fine."

Noah smiled and touched his finger gently before pulling back. "Will you cut it for me?"

Starscream shook his head. "No. I would end up hurting you."

"You wouldn't. It's okay; I trust you." she assured him.

Starscream hesitated another moment before transforming his hand into a huge shears with a 'whir'. "Stay very still, or I might end up cutting of your head by mistake."

"Reassuring." Noah muttered as he put the blades next to her neck and began chopping her large sections of her hair off. She watched as chunks of her hair began to pool around her feet, and winced every so often as the blades pulled at her hair.

"Done." 'Screamer announced after a couple of minutes, transforming his hand back.

Noah ran her hand through her very short hair. "Wow. My head feels so light." she grinned and bobbed her head from side to side.

Starscream's lips curved up into a smile. "You look beautiful." he said quietly.

Noah glanced up at him and blushed. "Thank you." she muttered awkwardly. She ran her hand through her hair again. It was the shortest she could ever remember her hair being; a boyish bob cut. She liked it.

"I hope I did it right." Starscream muttered. "I don't exactly have a lot of experience with human grooming."

Noah smiled at him. "It's great. Thank you." Starscream nodded at her. She grinned and tilted her head. "How come you liked my long hair so much?"

"It was just.. You. Whenever I saw a human with long hair I thought of you. I thought if you cut it you wouldn't look like yourself. But you do." he shrugged casually.

"Oh." Noah raised an eyebrow. "So I don't look any different?"

Starscream tilted his head and his optics zoomed in slightly. "You do. You look like a more mature femme."

"You mean I look older?" Noah grinned.

Starscream nodded once. "Yes. I mean you look older."

Noah smiled. "So what colour should I dye it when we get back?"

"Do you have to change the colour?" he asked, frowning slightly as he touched the top of her head and stroked her hair.

"If we're serious about altering my appearance, then yes."

Starscream vented. "Whatever colour you want, I suppose, as long as people won't recognise you."

"Hmmm... I'll think about it." she said thoughtfully, staring pensively at the giraffe.

"I'd better be getting back to Megatron." Starscream said, clearly displeased as he lowered his hand for Noah to step into.

"Can't we stay here for just another while?" she asked hopefully.

He shook his head. "Your 'skin' is turning a strange shade of red. I think it's from the sun."

"Oh. Damn." Noah muttered, glancing at her sunburnt shoulders, "Alright, fine. Let's go."

Starscream transformed and opened the door to the cockpit for her. Once she had climbed up and settled herself into the pilots seat, his voice crackled from the radio, "Will the redness of your skin be okay?"

"Yeah, it's just sunburn. I didn't even realise I had it. It might hurt a bit later, but it should be fine." she told him, leaning back comfortably. "Why do we have to go back?"

"Because otherwise Megatron would be even more slagged off than he is now." he said as he took off, flying back the way they had come.

Noah hummed and gazed out the window as they flew. "So, he's gonna be REALLY pissed when you go missing tomorrow, huh?"

"Yes... I'm going to have to come back, so I don't make him suspicious."

"Isn't just disappearing going to make him suspicious anyway?"

"Probably. But if he knows that I'll come back, he might ignore the fact that I disappear."

Noah said nothing. It sounded like a lot of his 'plan' relied on chance.

"It will work." he said, clearly noticing her silence.

Noah nodded. "Okay then. So tomorrow we leave."

"Yes. Tomorrow we leave." Starscream confirmed.


	17. Chapter 17

**Anna-Banana: aw, thank you :) wow, that's an interesting idea.. In not sure. How would that work? I mean, how would she get pregnant? Would there have to be tests run on her or something? It's an interesting idea, I love the thought of a little Starscream baby :D but I just can't think of how she would get pregnant, if you get me..?**

**StarSwoop: hehe, thank you :) and by 'others' do you mean the humans or the other 'cons?**

**anonomon: nawwww thank you ! :D I'm really glad you like it :D when your birthday? :)**

**Thank you all for your reviews! I need ideas for names though... The names of the three other girls in this chapter :P if you wanna give me a suggestion, please leave a review :)**

"Are we there yet?"

"No."

There was a long pause. "Are we nearly there now?"

"Noah." Starscream said warningly.

Noah sighed and curled up in the pilots seat. "I'm just bored."

"We'll be there in ten minutes."

Noah perked up and smiled. "Ok. Will there be other humans there?"

Starscream hesitated. "I believe Skywarp may have a pet human."

Noah frowned. "A pet?"

"Yes. I think so. I wasn't talking to them for too long." Starscream said, before falling into a thoughtful silence. "Are you still bored?" He asked abruptly.

"A bit." Noah shrugged, gazing out the window.

"Want to try something fun?" His voice had taken on a playful, eager edge.

"Like what?" Noah sat up straighter.

"Hold on." Was all he said, before the whole jet turned sideways and did a flip in the air.

Noah screamed, before laughing. "Do that again!" She encouraged, grinning. A chuckle issued from 'Screamers radio as he did a loop-dee-loop in the air. "Again!"

"I can't. We're here." He said, the smile audible in his voice.

"Really?" Noah sat up straighter in order to look out the window as Starscream began the descent. Starscream hummed his confirmation as he landed on a designated arrival spot. He rolled forwards a couple of feet on his wheels before a hatch opened up in front of him and he drove in. The hatch closed behind them and Starscream started rolling down a winding slope that was strangely reminiscent of those in car parks.

Once they reached the bottom, lights turned on and lit up the giant space. "Wow." Noah said, impressed. They were in what looked like a huge room with dark walls and bad light, but it still looked better than the previous Decepticon base had.

Noah climbed out of Starscream's alt form so he could transform and looked around. "So this is where we'll be staying, huh?"

Starscream nodded, standing at his full height. "Yes. Thundercracker is on his way."

Sure enough, a couple of minutes later a new Decepticon walked into the room. "Starscream." He greeted with a grin.

"TC." Starscream smiled back grudgingly.

Thundercracker was bigger and bulkier than Starscream, with glowing red optics and a blue body with the same colour wings. Noah couldn't help but notice how much more graceful and slender Starscream was. "Welcome back. Skywarp has gone out for a while, but he will be back soon." Thundercracker's helm tilted suddenly when he caught sight of Noah, who was clinging to Starscream's foot. "Is that the pet you left Megatron for?" He asked, voice dripping with curiosity and mirth. Starscream growled, but Thundercracker shook his head. "Don't take me the wrong way, I'm glad you finally saw sense and left. I just find it incredibly amusing that you left for the sake of one of the creatures you despise."

Noah flushed and shrank back, saying nothing. Starscream just glared at him. "Care to show me to my quarters?"

Thundercracker smirked. "Sure. But I'll show you to the human's room first."

Starscream paused in the act of picking Noah up. "She is staying with me."

Thundercracker gave him a look of disgust as he made his way to the door. "Why in the Pit would you want a human to stay with you in your quarters?" He demanded as Starscream followed him down the hallway.

Starscream didn't answer, but held Noah close to his chassis. They arrived at a new room, and Thundercracker opened the door and plucked Noah from Starscream's hand. He lowered her into the room until she was a couple of feet above the ground and dropped her, causing her to yelp in surprise and pain as she collided with the hard ground.

"Thundercracker!" Starscream yelled angrily as TC began to close the door.

"What? That is the human's quarters. You can go and see her and the other humans later." Thundercracker said flippantly. Any more arguments on Starscream's part were drowned out as the door was closed fully.

Noah turned uncertainly and took in the room she was in. It was a lot smaller than the room they had been in first, but still large by human standards. There were two bunk beds on either side of the room, and no windows. Altogether, the room reminded her of a jail cell.

"Nice place, isn't it?" A sarcastic female voice interrupted her thoughts.

Noah jumped and whirled to face the girl. She was sitting in a corner with her legs tucked against her chest, just staring at the wall. Her dirty blonde hair hung in an unkempt curtain around her pretty- albeit dirty- face, almost hiding the blue eyes beneath. "Ummm..." Noah said, unsure of how to react.

The girl turned and eyed her up. "So. New girl. What's your name?"

"Noah." She replied apprehensively.

"I'm Anna." The girl replied, turning back to stare at the wall. "Whose are you?"

"What?" Noah asked confusedly.

Anna rolled her eyes. "Whose are you?" She repeated slowly, as though talking to a child.

"I don't understand what you mean." Noah said, speaking just as slowly and clearly.

"Which of the robots claimed you?" Anna clarified, pushing her dirty hair out of her face.

"Oh. Starscream." Noah told her, feeling uncomfortable. She hadn't realised that the Cybertronians were claiming girls...

Anna's forehead puckered into a frown. "Which one's that?"

"He.. Uh.. You might not have met him. He just arrived."

Anna nodded. "Oh. Yeah, Barricade was saying something about a new Decepticon 'joining the ranks'." She snorted. "He's not actually new though, is he? He was working with the other guy. The bad one."

"Megatron." Noah nodded. "Yeah. Did you say Barricade? He's here?"

Anna shrugged. "Yeah. I'm his."

Noah gaped at her. "Are you telling me," she began slowly, "That Barricade has 'claimed' a 'fleshy' for himself?"

Anna looked at her curiously and nodded. "Yeah. Why?"

Noah's face split into a grin. "Oh wow. I am going to have so much fun with this."

Anna stood up, shaking her head. Noah noted that most of her clothes were in tatters. "You don't want to make him angry."

Noah snorted. "Been there, done that. I don't think he likes me much." She walked around the room, eyeing it up. "So... Is it just me and you staying in here?"

"No." Anna glanced at the door. "There're three other girls. I don't know what their names are though. No one ever talks in here."

Noah frowned slightly. "Three others? That makes five of us."

Anna snorted. "Well done, Sherlock."

"There's only four beds." Noah pointed at the bunk beds.

Anna pursed her lips. "Yeah." Was all she said.

Noah decided to move away from that subject. "What do you mean no one talks here?"

Anna shrugged and sat down on the bottom bunk of one of the beds on the left side of the room. "No one talks. I don't know any names, or what they do with their 'owners' when they leave." Anna shuddered.

"Oh." Noah said awkwardly, glancing around. "Who are the other, uh.. Owners?"

"Skywarp owns the redhead..." Anna said thoughtfully, counting on her fingers, "The shiny red one owns the girl with black hair, and the shiny red ones paranoid friend owns the girl who always cries."

Noah stared at the floor pensively. The 'shiny red one' had to be Knock Out, which meant that his paranoid friend was Breakdown. And, if her memory served her correctly, Skywarp was the youngest of Screamer's trine. "Oh. You should learn their names."

Anna snorted and shook her head. "No point. We'll all probably die soon enough." She ignored Noah's frown and peered closer at Noah's face. "You look really familiar."

Noah glanced away and shrugged. "People always think they know me." She laughed awkwardly.

Anna's eyes widened. "No, wait! I do know you! You're the missing chick from the news! Noah Rogers, right?" She pointed excitedly.

Noah sighed and nodded. "Yeah. That's me."

Anna nodded. "I knew you looked familiar. It was the short hair - it threw me off. It's always really long in the pictures on the news. Jeez, you've been missing for, like, a month."

Noah scratched the back of her neck. "Yeah, I know."

"What happened?"

Noah sat down against the wall facing the door and glanced Anna's way. "I got kidnapped. Then Starscream brought me back. Then I got kidnapped by crazy kids who were being chased by a psychotic female Decepticon. Then I got dragged across Egypt and into a war. Then Starscream found me in the middle of the war and took me away. Then we came here."

Anna stared at her. "I get the feeling that was an edited version."

Noah laughed for real. "You wouldn't be able to handle the full version."

"No, I will!" Anna sat up eagerly and grinned.

Noah hesitated, before relenting at the puppy-dog eyes she was receiving.

Almost half an hour later, after she had finished reliving the story, the door to the room opened.

Anna leapt off her perch on the bed and jumped to attention, but Noah just stared at her in confusion. "What are you doing?" She asked the blonde curiously.

"Stand up!" Anna hissed at her. "They get angry if you don't acknowledge them!"

Noah frowned and glanced back to the door as Starscream's head peered in. "Hey Screamer." She grinned from the floor, ignoring Anna's frantic whispers.

Starscream rolled his optics and gave her a tiny smile; much smaller than the smiles he gave her when they were alone. "Come on." He commanded.

"Where are we going?" Noah asked, dragging herself to her feet.

Anna winced. "Don't question him!" She hissed.

Starscream tilted his head amusedly at Anna, but addressed Noah. "We're going to dye your hair, as you put it. Unless you don't want to..?"

Anna stared at him in surprise, but Noah touched her recently-cut-short hair. "No, I do. I didn't realise we had dye."

Starscream shrugged his shoulders. "I asked Knock Out to get some."

"Can we go see him?" Noah asked eagerly, making her way over to Starscream.

"Maybe later." He lowered his hand for her to climb into. Once she was comfortably seated, he stood up straight and made his way out of the room. As they walked down the hall, Starscream spoke up again. "Is your room okay?"

Noah hesitated. "Yeah. It's fine." She lied.

Starscream glanced at her, but said nothing as they stopped in front of a room and he typed in a code. The doors slid open and revealed a large room, with a huge Cybertronian-sized berth and a luxurious room with solvent showers and water showers.

"Wow. Nice quarters." Noah said, impressed.

Starscream's lip plates quirked up in a small smile as he set her on what looked like a huge dresser. "Those are the dyes."

Noah turned to see what he was pointing at and her eyes widened. "Holy sh- did you tell him to buy the whole supply?" Noah stared at all the different hair dyes. There must have been two or three of each colour, with fifty different colours all lined up in a row.

"I didn't know what colour you wanted. Is there enough?" He asked worriedly.

Noah bit back a laugh and nodded. "Yeah. There's enough." She grinned as she looked through all the different colours. About five minutes later, she held up one of the cartons. "What do you think if this one?"

Starscream peered closer. "Blue?"

"Yeah. Bright blue. What do you think?"

Starscream shrugged. "I believe you would have to.. What's the word.. Bleach your hair first."

Noah nodded. "But you'd be able to do that for me, right? Because you're the best?" She grinned hopefully at him.

He rolled his optics and smirked. "Fine, fine." He muttered.

Noah grinned and sat down, waiting for him to start.

"I don't know how you manage to convince me to do these things." He muttered, setting up the dye.

Noah shrugged. "It's because you love me." She teased.

Starscream said nothing, but his cheeks seemed to tint slightly darker.

A little over an hour and a half later, Noah had blue hair.

She laughed in delight, staring at her reflection and grinning. She whirled around to face Starscream, the short blue curls bouncing around her face. "How do I look?"

Starscream smirked at her. "Suits you."

She grinned at him and patted down her hair from where it was sticking up in the back. She turned to look at her reflection again. She looked like a completely different person; her hair was cut so much shorter, with her bright blue curls just brushing her jawline. The haircut made her look more mature, her fringe (which was growing far too long) hung around her eyes, making the green in them stand out. She doubted anyone would recognise her now- she hardly recognised herself.

Thank you, Screamer." She smiled, climbing into his outstretched hand. She kissed his thumb and leaned against him as his fingers formed what seemed like a cage for support.

He smiled back. "You're welcome. I'd better bring you back to the human's room, now."

Noah pouted. "Already? When will you come again?"

"I'll come tomorrow." He promised, stroking her back softly.

Noah nodded and relaxed against him, practically purring as he petted her. "Okay." She said absently. She was brought back to attention as they reached the humans room and Starscream reached for the door. "Wait, Screamer? Can you put me on your shoulder for a sec?"

Starscream looked at her, but obliged. Once she was confident enough that she wouldn't fall, she leaned up to his audio receptor. "Do you promise you'll come tomorrow?"

Starscream smirked. "Most of the humans are hoping that their masters DON'T come and see them."

Noah tilted her head. "Masters?"

"Not that I'm your master." He added belatedly.

She rolled her eyes and ignored him. "Promise."

"I promise." Starscream said quietly.

Noah smiled. "Thank you for doing my hair." She kissed him softly on his big metal cheek. It felt odd, pressing her lips against metal, but it wasn't bad.

Starscream looked at her with surprise and something else in his optics. "You're welcome." He said, his voice sounding.. Deeper than usual. He opened the door and lowered her to the ground inside the room. "See you tomorrow, Noah."

Noah waved as the door closed behind him and turned to face Anna. Along with Anna, three other girls were staring at her. Anna stood up and gaped at her. "Dude! What the fuck did he do to your hair?" She shrieked.

Noah grinned. "I like it." She laughed.

Anna shook her head. "You're crazy."

Noah shrugged, not denying it, then faced the other girls and smiled. "Hi. I'm Noah."

The other girls lowered their heads and turned away, none of them meeting her eyes. They were all seated in their individual bunks, and seemed to be in the same unkempt state as Anna, except for the girl with black hair, who Noah remembered to be Knock Out's.

Uncertain, Noah glanced at Anna, who shrugged and mouthed "no one talks" at her.

"Why?" Noah mouthed back.

Anna shrugged, before glancing at a large digital clock hanging on the wall. "Almost ten." She commented out loud.

"So?" Noah glanced at the clock too.

"Lights out is at ten." Anna explained. "It's best to just make no noise and go to sleep."

Noah frowned, unhappy with this, but nodded. She walked over to the corner where Anna had been sitting earlier on and curled up in it. "'Night."

Anna looked at her sympathetically from her bed. "Are you going to be okay?"

Noah forced a smile and nodded. "Of course." She said, curling up tighter. She struggled to put thoughts of Starscream's warm, dry spark chamber out of her mind as she closed her eyes and let sleep take her.


	18. Chapter 18

**Carnomaniac: lol :P you're so funny. Yeah, that's a good idea... I'm just not sure of the whole 'pregnant' idea. Do you like the idea?**

**Autobot-Bre: thank you :)**

**enjoy! And please review :) xx**

Noah groaned quietly as she woke up with a crick in her neck. She blinked several times, before looking around. It took her several seconds to remember where she was and why she had been asleep in the corner of a dank room.

"Hey."

Noah glanced around to see Anna looking at her. "Hi." She greeted, sitting up and wincing at the pain in her back.

"You okay?" Anna asked concernedly. Noah nodded, and Anna hopped off her bed to come closer. "Food'll be here soon."

Noah nodded again and stood up, stretching. "Okay." Glancing around, she saw the other girls were sitting silently in their bunks. "What are your names?" She asked abruptly.

The girl with black hair started slightly, as though she just realised she wasn't alone in the room. She peeked at Noah shyly, as though she was afraid to answer. "Breanna." She said at last.

The other girls glanced at her, surprised she spoke. "Huh. I didn't know you could talk." Anna remarked, causing Breanna to duck her head.

"Nice to meet you." Noah smiled, shooting a frown at Anna, who held up her arms in a 'what?' gesture.

The red head glanced from Noah to Breanna, then back to Noah. "I'm Emily." She said quietly, smiling nervously.

The last girl, a girl with light brown hair and blue eyes, decided to speak up too. "My name is Kim."

Noah beamed, pleased that they spoke. "I'm Noah, and I'm new here."

Breanna nodded. "Yeah, we know. Who do you belong to?" She leaned forwards curiously.

"Screamer." Noah smiled. At the confused looks at the other girls' faces, she added, "Starscream."

Breanna's expression turned thoughtful. "Starscream... Is he, like, the brother of Skywarp or something? I think I heard Skywarp talk about him.."

"Not brothers, exactly... They're trine-mates." Noah told her.

Breanna frowned. "What's that?"

"I'm not sure." Noah admitted. "It's just what Screamer said."

"You like him." Breanna pointed out suddenly, clearly surprised.

Noah fought back a blush, and shrugged. "He's never given me reason not to."

Kim stared at her in disbelief. "He kidnapped you and threw you in a room!"

"Thundercracker was the one who threw me in this room!" Noah argued.

"Your 'con didn't object!" Kim frowned. She was right. Noah didn't blame him; she had a feeling that he hadn't pushed his authority because the popular opinion of "fleshies" around the Decepticons wasn't very high. He most likely didn't want to look weak in front of the other 'cons.

"He did." Anna said suddenly. Everyone looked at her, and she blinked nervously at the sudden attention. "He did object. But then Thundercracker closed the door. But he came back for you a little while later."

Everyone looked surprised now. "But... Why did he care?" Emily looked bewildered.

Noah blushed. "Why does it matter?"

Breanna shrugged. "It just seems strange, that's all. They don't usually care too much."

Noah was saved by having to reply when the door opened, and everyone fell silent. A drone came in and practically threw the tray of food on the floor. It's 'V' shaped visor lit up orange as he said "You have five minutes," before exiting again.

Noah pounced on the tray, ignoring the looks she received, and began swallowing huge amounts of beans without stopping for air.

"You're going to choke!" Kim protested, watching nervously.

"'Mm f'nnn." Noah said with her mouth full, before swallowing and trying again. "I'm fine. What did he mean by 'you have five minutes'?"

"Until our masters come." Anna said, popping a forkful of beans in her mouth.

Noah shifted and frowned slightly. "Don't call them that. It sounds weird."

"Call them what? Master? It's what we're meant to call them."

Noah didn't argue further. "What exactly do you do for them?"

Breanna shrugged. "It's different every time. Sometime they expect us to clean them, or to fix minor scratches. Apparently humans can fix the little details better because we're so small."

Noah nodded slowly. "Oh. Hmm."

Anna gave her a stern look. "When your master comes in, be respectful! Don't make eye contact, and don't speak unless you're spoken to directly."

"Seriously?" Noah asked disbelievingly. "You're kidding. I never do that! Starscream doesn't mind."

Emily scratched her wildly curly hair. "It's just what we were taught. If we broke the rules we were punished."

"Punished how?" Noah frowned.

Emily glanced down at her plate of food, then pushed it away and stood up. "However our owner sees fit."

Noah winced slightly at the way she said it. It was clear she was trying to suppress some kind of memory. She chose not to say anything, and sat on the floor to wait.

The wait wasn't long before the doors slid open and the other girls jumped respectfully to their feet. At the nasty look Anna shot her, Noah groaned and dragged herself to her feet. Knock Out, Breakdown, Barricade and a purple and black Decepticon stood in the doorway.

"Human. Come, now." Barricade growled gruffly at Anna, who scurried over to him.

"Hey, Barry!" Noah said in delight, waving at him enthusiastically.

Barricade stiffened slightly and turned his glare at her. He looked slightly surprise to see her, but covered it up well. "Squishy. I thought you died."

"Nope. Not yet." Noah grinned at him. "Admit it. You're happy to see me again."

Barricade rumbled dangerously and took a step forwards, but the purple and black Decepticon grabbed his shoulder and shot him a look. "Are you truly thinking of harming my trine leaders pet? Because that won't end well for any of us."

Barricade still looked angry, but refrained himself from trying to attack Noah again.

"Hello, Noah." Knock Out took a step forwards and scanned her quickly.

"Hey, KO." Noah squirmed slightly at the sensation of the scan. "Haven't seen you in a while."

Knock Out gave her a smirk. "Did you miss me?"

Noah rolled her eyes and said nothing. Breakdown tilted his helm at her suspiciously. "You spent some time with the Autobots?"

"Yes." Noah said shortly, crossing her arms over her chest. She didn't like his suspicious tone of voice.

"And would you go back, if you had a choice?" Breakdown demanded, surprising her.

"Seriously? THAT'S your question? No, I don't think I would Breakdown, do you know why? Because I spent most of my time running for my life and searching for ancient Cybertronian mythical pieces of crap! I'm still not even sure what we were looking for in the first place! And then I almost got crushed to death by a Decepticon in front of an Auotbot, and did the Autobot help? No! He kept shooting at-"

"Wait." Breakdown interrupted Noah's rant. "What Decepticon was so fragged up in the head that they tried to kill you?"

"I don't know." Noah said, slightly miffed at her rant having been interrupted. "I think Starscream killed him."

Knock Out nodded slightly. "Probably. Your scans look fine." He said, before looking behind her. "Emily."

Emily ducked her head and hurried forwards, stopping at his feet without looking up at him. "Yes, sir?"

Noah raised an eyebrow, but Knock Out ignored her. "We're leaving. Follow me, and don't get squished."

Emily nodded and hurriedly followed KO out of the room, having to almost run to keep up with his big steps. Noah turned back to face Breakdown and Skywarp, who were the only two Decepticons left. "Where's Screamer?"

Skywarp raised an optic ridge at the nickname, but clearly decided against saying anything about it. "He said he had some business to do."

"What kind if business?"

"I don't know. He hit me when I asked." Skywarp shrugged.

Breakdown sighed impatiently. "Squishy, come on!"

Kim jumped in surprise and ran over to his foot. "Sorry." She whispered. Breakdown huffed and walked out, leaving Kim to run along the ground beside him.

Noah turned back to Skywarp. "Will I see him today?"

"I honestly don't know, human." Skywarp said.

"Noah." She muttered absently.

"What?"

"My name is Noah." She said, raising her voice slightly.

Skywarp blinked. "Oh. Okay. I don't know, Noah. I'm going now. I'm sure Starscream will be back soon." He curled a finger at Breanna in a 'come here' gesture. She hurried over to him just like the other girls had and stood waiting at his feet. Instead of having her run alongside him, he picked her up in his hand. This clearly wasn't a usual occurrence, because Breanna squealed loudly in fright and cling tightly to his hand. Skywarp tilted his head. "I'm just trying to carry you. Calm yourself."

Breanna took a deep breath, but didn't loosen her grip on his hand. "Please don't drop me." She whimpered.

A flash of irritation crossed Skywarp's face. "I'm not going to drop you."

"You've never carried her before, have you?" Noah asked, watching in mild amusement.

"Of course I haven't! I've never seen any need to!" Skywarp said irritably, trying to settle Breanna down.

"So why are you carrying her now?"

"Because Thundercracker said Starscream carries you around all the time. If Starscream can do it, I should be able to too!"

Noah grinned. "Oh. I see. Breanna, it's alright. He's not going to hurt you."

Breanna stared down at her with wide eyes. "How do you know?" She whispered.

"When's the last time I hurt you?" Skywarp demanded.

"Tuesday." Breanna murmured, not meeting his optics.

"Has it been so long?" Skywarp muttered thoughtfully. Breanna whimpered and tried to slide away from him, but he prevented her from doing so by curling his fingers up. "I was joking! I'm not going to hurt you today."

"Promise?" Noah asked from the ground.

Skywarp shot her an annoyed look. "What?"

"Promise her you're not going to hurt her." Noah insisted.

"I promise." Skywarp growled, sounding less than reassuring. Breanna stared at him, before hesitantly relaxing slightly in his big hand. Skywarp's faceplates split into a smile, and he turned and walked out the door.

Noah sat on the floor, suddenly alone and wondering what to do. She began tapping her fingers against her legs until she realised she was simply annoying herself.

A couple of hours later, after she had fallen asleep on the floor, Starscream came in. He stood in the doorway and said nothing as he watched her sleep. After a couple of minutes he knelt down beside he and gently scooped her up into his hand, trying hard not to wake her up. Once she was seated in his palm, still fast asleep, he left the room and made his way to his own quarters.

He sat on the berth and settled her onto his chest plates before taking several data pads, planning to do some work before she woke up. He didn't have very long to work, because she woke up twenty minutes later.

"Mmmm.." Noah yawned sleepily as she stretched. She realised suddenly that whatever she was lying on was warmer and more comfortable than the cold ground in her cell, and she glanced up to see Starscream's bright red optics watching her. "Screamer?"

"You're awake." He smiled. "How come you were recharging on the floor?"

"Where else was I supposed to sleep?" She asked, sitting up.

"There were four berths." He pointed out, setting his data pads down.

"Yeah, but four other girls stay in that room too."

"They didn't give you their berths?" Starscream sounded outraged.

"Why would they?" Noah raised an eyebrow.

"Because- because you're better!"

"Whoa. How am I '_better_'?"

"You're mine!" Starscream scooped her up into his hand and held her up to optic level. "That automatically makes you better."

Noah couldn't help but laugh. "Oh, you're so sweet."

Energon darkened Starscream's faceplates. "You will sleep here." He said shortly, lying back on the berth before setting her down on his chest.

"Here? With you?" She asked, surprised.

"Yes." Starscream said shortly. "With me."

"Won't Thundercracker be annoyed because I'm not in the human room?" Noah asked uncertainly.

Starscream growled. "I am Thundercracker's superior! I can do what I like."

Noah smiled slightly and lay down on his chest. "Okay."

Suddenly Starscream looked uncertain. "Unless you don't want to."

"No, I do." Noah assured him.

"Because you can stay with the other humans if you wish."

"Star-"

"Honestly, it's alright. I won't be offended."

"Stars-"

"Because I can understand if you want to stay with your own kind."

"Starscream! Shut up!" Noah laughed, climbing up his chest to rest on his neck. "I said yes. I wouldn't have said yes if I didn't mean it."

Starscream smiled slightly and his cheeks tinted darker. "Alright then. You can still spend time with the other human femmes, if you wish."

"Can I?" Noah tilted her head.

Starscream nodded. "If you want to."

"Yeah. That'd be nice. But could we spend time somewhere other than that horrible room?"

"Of course." Starscream hummed, stroking her back softly.

"Great." Noah smiled, leaning into Starscream's touch. "You're not going to crush me in your sleep, are you?"

Starscream stopped his stroking for a moment to look offended. "Of course not! I would never harm you!"

Noah smiled and leaned on his cheek as he resumed petting her. "Just checking."

Starscream stayed thoughtfully quiet for a few moments. "Hmmm... I may have to come up with something to make sure that doesn't happen.."

Noah looked up at him. "What do you mean?"

Starscream rubbed her back. "Don't worry about it, pet."

Noah relaxed immediately into his touch. For the first time, she didn't even mind being called his pet.


	19. Chapter 19

When Noah awoke the next morning, she was curled up on Starscream's chest. She yawned and placed her hands over the arms wrapped around her waist, closing her eyes again.

Wait. Arms?

Her eyes flew open and she tried to scramble away from the man behind her. "Get off!" She squeaked, pushing his arms away from her.

The man raised his head groggily and glared at her. "What the slag are you doing?"

Noah froze in recognition at the voice that issued from the mans voice. "S-starscream?"

The man scowled. "Yes?"

"Oh my god." Noah gaped at the human Starscream in shock. Now that she was looking at him properly, she could see Starscream's features standing out. His blood-red irises were glaring irritably at her, his brow creased in a frown under the shock of brown hair that hung over his forehead. He had sharp features, but they looked good on him.

He was gorgeous.

Starscream rolled his eyes at her stare. "See something you like?"

Noah blushed furiously and dropped her gaze. "You're human? I'm sitting on you!" She pointed down at Starscream's real body. His optics were dim and he was still, as though he were sleeping.

The human Starscream shrugged and lay back. "A perfectly sound analysis, but I was hoping you could do better."

His body may have changed, but his attitude certainly hadn't.

"How?" She asked, still shocked. She noticed for the first time that he was wearing nothing but a pair of stylishly torn jeans. Her eyes travelled up his well-built frame, lingering on his muscly bare chest. Her face heated up when she realised he was watching her reaction.

"Holoform." He said shortly.

"I've never seen it before."

"It takes up too much energy to use all the time."

Noah reached out hesitantly and touched his chest. She whipped her hand back almost immediately. "Wow. You're solid."

Starscream's holoform cocked an eyebrow. "You were expecting... what, exactly?"

Noah laughed nervously and shook her head. "Nothing. Um... I was expecting you to be transparent." She admitted.

Starscream frowned. "Do I look transparent?"

"No..."

Starscream rolled his eyes and lay back on his real forms chest. "Go back to sleep."

Noah glanced at him uncertainly. "How come you created a holoform?"

"You became cold during your sleep, so I activated it to keep your body temperature steady." He said coolly.

"Oh." Noah murmured quietly. She shyly crept over to Starscream's holoform and lay down next to him, as close as possible without touching. He didn't move, choosing to simply watch her as her eyes travelled up and down his false body. She reached out another shy hand, stopping just short of touching his chest again.

He glared with his glowing red eyes, just daring her to touch him. "What are you doing?"

Noah smiled shyly and lowered her hand. "Nothing. I'm kind of cold, though."

Starscream raised an eyebrow, before a grumpy half smile crossed his face and he opened his arms. "One time only."

"Sure." Noah bit her lip to keep from laughing as she curled up beside him. He wrapped his arms around her wordlessly.

"How is your body temperature now?" Starscream asked after a couple of minutes.

Noah raised her head from where it had been resting on his bare chest and smiled at him. "Better. Thank you."

He grunted. "Do you plan to get up today?"

"Do I have to?" She sighed, resting her head back on his chest.

He was quiet for a moment, playing with a curl in her hair. She was startled to see the bright blue colour, until she remembered that it had been dyed. "It can wait another while." He said finally.

Noah grinned. "Thank you." She murmured gratefully, closing her eyes.

About ten minutes later, however, there was a knock on the door of Starscream's quarters. Starscream hissed irritably and glared at the door.

Noah rolled her head up to look at his face. "What?"

"Skywarp." He said in frustration. "I thought he might get the hint and stop annoying me if I didn't answer his comms."

"Starscream? I know you're in there!"

Starscream growled, and suddenly the holoform disappeared. Noah's head dropped and hit Starscream's real body. "Ow!"

Starscream's optics flickered on, and he glanced down at her. "Stay here." He picked her off his chest and placed her on the berth firmly before standing up and walking towards the door.

After placing a hand on a panel the door slid open, revealing Skywarp standing there with his hand poised to knock. "Oh. Hi."

"What do you want?" Starscream hissed irritably.

"Umm... TC wanted me to tell you that we were having a meeting and to come to the main control room-"

"Thundercracker does NOT tell me what to do!" Starscream said irately.

"No, of course not. He merely wished to inform you of the meeting. I believe he wants to talk about our dear old friend Megatron." Skywarp said silkily.

"What about him?"

"He's not dead."

"That fantastic, Skywarp. Did you work that out all by yourself?"

"No need to be snarky." Skywarp muttered, scowling.

Noah smiled slightly. She thought it was almost... cute when Starscream was snarky. Almost like an annoyed little kid.

"Will you come?"

Starscream let out a frustrated hiss. "Fine." He turned and stalked back to the berth, and snatched up Noah. "Come on."

Skywarp blinked his optics in surprise. "What are you taking the human for?"

"Is there a problem?" Starscream asked silkily, twitching his claw-like fingers.

"No." Skywarp glanced at his claws. "Of course not."

"Good." Starscream set Noah on his shoulder so that she was almost hidden amongst the gears and cables, before stepping out into the hall and stalking down the corridor. Noah remained silent the whole time, only moving from her place in Starscream's shoulder joint to peek over a cable at the control room as they entered.

It was large, even by Cybertronian standards, and computer monitors covered almost every inch of the walls. In the centre of the room stood Thundercracker, Knock Out, Breackdown, Barricade and several other Decepticons Noah had never seen before. They all turned their glowing red optics on Starscream as he entered the room, and Noah shrank back into his neck, hoping they hadn't seen her.

Her hope was in vain, however, as Barricade's optics narrowed. "You brought the vermin?"

Starscream snarled dangerously. "Are you questioning my motives?!"

Barricade held up his hands in a show of surrender, but he kept his narrowed optics trained on the human on Starscream's shoulder.

"We are gathered here," Thundercracker began, "to discuss Megatron."

"What about him? He's stranded in a desert." Starscream snapped.

"But not offline." Knock Out pointed out.

"What is it with people stating the obvious today?"

"Soundwave is on his way to this planet." Thundercracker explained. "On his way to this base, to be precise. He's approximately two earth days away. I think it may be a good idea to... bring our Lord Megtron here."

Noah could feel Starscream tense. "And why," he asked quietly, "would you possibly think that is a good idea?"

Thundercracker glanced nervously at the youngest trine mate for assistance, but Skywarp just shrugged. "Ah.. Well.. He may not be too.. pleased if Soundwave arrives and informs him that no one has tried to regroup and rescue him from where he is currently stranded."

Noah glanced at Starscream uncertainly. "'Screamer?" She whispered quietly so no one else in the room could hear her. "Don't you think it might be a good idea to bring him here? So he might... trust you more? He might not hurt you again if you bring him here."

"No!" Starscream said angrily. "No, I won't!"

"You won't what?" Knock Out asked uncertainly.

Starscream hissed at him to shut up, and Noah stood up to whisper into his audio receptor again. "'Screamer, please? Listen to what they're saying. This Decepticon, Soundwave, is going to find and tell Megatron anyway! And he'll hurt you like before-" she ignored Starscream's warning growl at the mention of his beating at Megatron's hands and continued, "So wouldn't it be a good idea to tell him and convince him that you didn't betray him? Please, Starscream. Think about it."

Starscream made an infuriated hissing noise, then turned and began pacing. "It wouldn't work." He growled lowly.

"It might." Noah said quietly.

There was a long pause during which Starscream paced agitatedly, before whirling around to face his fellow Decepticons. "Fine." He ground out.

A dark purple and grey Decepticon leaned against one of the control consoles. "You and your trine had better go off and get him, then."

Starscream turned and regarded the Decepticon with a cool gaze. "And why should we go, Cyclonus?"

Cyclonus shrugged. "You're the obvious choice. You can fly, after all. And then there's the fact that you're Megatron's second in command. Isn't that correct, Commander Starscream?"

Starscream glared at him. "Fine." He ground out again. He turned to face his trine mates. "We leave in ten minutes."

Thundercracker blinked, clearly surprised. "So soon?"

"Yes. Is there a problem? Stop questioning every decision I make!" Starscream yelled angrily at him.

"I could mind your little pet for you, if you wish." An unfamiliar Decepticon with a maniacal looking face leered at Noah. "I can think of a hundred things we could have fun with."

Starscream's lip components lifted in a snarl. "Back off, Blitzwing."

Blitzwing grinned, "As you wish." But he never took his optics off Noah.

Starscream glared furiously at him before turning on his heel and marching out of the room and down the hall to his quarters. Once inside, he placed Noah on the berth and bent on one knee to speak to her. "I hope you realise what you have encouraged me to do."

"Bring Megatron to the base." Noah tucked a blue curl behind her ear.

Starscream vented heavily. "Yes. Bring the lousy old tyrant here."

"If it prevents you from getting beaten again when he finds out-"

"And what about you?" Starscream spoke across her.

Noah blinked, taken aback. "What about me?"

"You think he will be as tolerant of you as I have been?"

"Tolerant? Is that what you've been? I would have called that 'incredibly grumpy'." Noah placed her hands on her hips and frowned at him.

"I am being serious. He will not allow you to stay here. He will not allow any of the humans to stay here, but he may find particular joy in squashing you painfully."

"What? What did I do?" Noah asked, slightly offended.

"You did nothing." Starscream scowled. "It is the simple fact that you belong to me. Megatron enjoys humiliating me as much as possible: I believe he would find great satisfaction in destroying you in front of the rest of the Decepticons."

Noah swallowed, suddenly nervous. "Oh. But.. But you'll protect me, right? Like you've done before?"

Starscream looked at her closely for a long moment, before nodding once. "I will try my best."

"So he was like a human?" Breanna asked curiously.

Noah nodded. "Yeah. He called it a holoform."

"That's really freaky." Kim muttered.

Anna snickered. "Oh, come on Kimmie. You've got to admit it's pretty cool."

Kim smiled slightly. "It's a bit cool." She agreed reluctantly.

Noah rolled over so that she was lying on her stomach on the floor. Starscream had been gone for about two hours, though it was difficult to measure time in the room. "When are we going to be fed again?" She asked, resting her head on her arms.

Kim stared at her in mild disbelief. "You can't seriously be hungry again."

"I'm always hungry." Noah grinned, tapping her fingers on the ground.

Breanna smiled. "It shouldn't be long now."

Noah nodded, resting her head back on her arms and closing her eyes. "Okay."

Breanna had been right. After only ten minutes, the door opened and a drone slid a tray of food in and closed the door quickly. Noah leapt up in delight and ran to the food. "YES!" She squealed, picking up a plastic fork and shovelling microwaved beans into her mouth.

Anna wrinkled her nose. "The food is disgusting! How can you eat it and not puke?"

"I'm hungry." Noah answered between mouthfuls. She finished up her food and pushed the tray towards the other girls.

In comparison, the other girls ate a tiny amount before pushing their plates back and claiming they were full. Noah lay back on the floor. She rolled a a metre or so to one side, then back to the other side.

"What," Anna began, staring at her, "are you doing?"

"Rolling. I'm bored." Noah sighed.

"Well, nothing's going to happen 'till tomorrow. We've just got to wait."

Noah nodded. "Yeah. Although something might happen sooner than that if Starscream gets back sooner."

"Why? What happens when Starscream gets back?" Kim sat up curiously.

"He's bringing back Megatron." Noah tilted her head up to stare at ceiling. "Hey, where's Emily?"

The other girls glanced up, as though only noticing the redheads absence now. "Knock Out hasn't brought her back yet."

"Will she be okay?" Kim frowned.

"Sure. Knock Out wouldn't hurt her." Noah shrugged.

Anna made a face at her. "Seriously? Of course he would. She's his."

Noah frowned in confusion. "What?"

Anna sighed and sat up on her bed. "It's not exactly unusual for any of us to come back with bruises, broken bones or sprained joints."

"Oh." Noah went quiet.

"She'll be back soon." Kim said quietly. "She might not have been hurt."

Noah nodded. "Yeah." She muttered absently, before rolling over into a more comfortable position to wait for Starscream'a return.


End file.
